This case study, conducted at a large suburban high school with two sections of a contemporary literature class for struggling 12th grade students, sought to understand how repurposing a non-educational technology such as Goodreads might impact adolescents' academic literacy practices and events. Incorporating Goodreads in a high school classroom…

The goal of this study is to investigate the role of English Language Arts (ELA) teachers' verbal discourse moves in scaffolding adolescent students' argumentative thinking in small group interpretive discussions about literature. Demands related to argumentation may present particular challenges for adolescent students (Biancarosa & Snow,…

The purpose of this phenomenological case study is to explore the reading attitudes and decision-making skills of college freshmen enrolled in remedial language arts courses. The theoretical framework guiding this study is qualitative phenomenology explained by Baxter and Jack (2008). This specific type of research "provides tools for…

The purpose of this qualitative Action Research Study was to describe eight elementary English Language Arts (ELA) teachers' perceptions of a Professional Learning Community (PLC). The teacher-participants' opinions about the PLC were used to improve the existing PLC to promote a more reflective and collaborative environment where ELA teachers…

The Extended Foreign Language (EFL) program is a "school within a school" dual language program in which students are instructed in both English and a language other than English (Spanish or French) with one hour of daily instruction in that language. Most of the schools participating in the program implement the English/Spanish version…

This action research study examined how the integration of technology in a second grade ELA classroom impacted levels of student engagement. Research was conducted to investigate how utilizing various technological tools to meet learning goals and objectives in the classroom impacted levels of student engagement as perceived by the students and…

Educators concerned with social justice are working in very different social and legal contexts than when they first began to take up the issue of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) lives in the school and the curriculum. The growing number of countries that have legalized same-sex marriage, the recent US Supreme Court…

This Framework is built upon the foundation of the 2010 "Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for English Language Arts and Literacy," as well as earlier versions of the "Massachusetts English Language Arts Frameworks" published since 1997. The current Framework incorporates improvements suggested by Massachusetts educators after…

Curriculum Associates' i-Ready is an adaptive diagnostic and individualized instructional tool that has been used in M-DCPS in the last few years. In addition, in 2016-2017, Curriculum Associates provided the District with results of their predictive model, which used the outcomes of the Fall and Winter i-Ready diagnostic testing to estimate the…

This mixed methods study endeavored to examine the close reading knowledge, perceptions, and practices of high school teachers of English/language arts in the United States. Through a quantitative online survey, and two qualitative approaches--one-on-one interviews and reflective instructional logs--data was collected regarding how teachers felt…

A variable and person-centered approach was applied to understand the development of cross domain self-concepts of ability, patterns of math and English self-concepts of ability throughout adolescence, and their associations with college major. An expectancy-value perspective was integrated with dimensional comparison theory to understand how math…

We estimate relative achievement effects of the four most commonly adopted elementary mathematics textbooks in the fall of 2008 and fall of 2009 in California. Our findings indicate that one book, Houghton Mifflin's "California Math," is more effective than the other three, raising student achievement by 0.05 to 0.08 student-level…

This study describes the phenomenon of how first-year teachers learn to evaluate students learning by (letter) grades. Grades seem simple enough; but in reality, each grade carries serious consequences with it--for either good or bad. For example, grades affect benefits/consequences at home; they affect placement in remedial or advanced courses;…

This article argues that the goal of an educator is to help students realize they can be effective writers by giving them the ability to demonstrate their skills. Scene writing can make writing seem less like a chore and more like an opportunity to express ideas. As students write scenes that include both dialogue and action, they gain a deeper…

Across the country, adolescents are writing and performing spoken word poetry. In this article, the author works with members of a spoken word poetry group to develop ways to integrate spoken word into classroom and school communities.