Discusses curriculum reform in California. Suggests choosing works that have quality and depict what is universal in human nature in order to select literature that is meaningful to all. (MS)

Discusses two passages from novels (Sheri Tepper's "After Long Silence" and Cynthia Voight's "A Solitary Blue") that feature music. Discusses ways language arts teachers might use these passages in the classroom. (SR)

Offers seven annotations of books and journal articles (published between 1992 and 1994) from the ERIC database on the topic of language and literacy in upper elementary grades. (SR)

Describes the English Language Arts Standards project, whose principal purpose is to develop content standards that set out how students best learn to speak, listen, write, and read effectively. Encourages feedback from educators around the country. (RS)

Discusses why elephant riddles are viable catalysts for word play and language development in the primary grades. Explores some relationships between children's thinking and elephant riddles. Offers some suggestions for incorporating them as a regular part of the classroom flow. (SR)

Discusses the importance of Vietnam War literature by and about women and provides ideas for incorporating it into the reading/English language arts curriculum. Provides a rationale for such literature; discusses types of Vietnam War literature by and about women; and addresses pedagogical aspects. (RS)

Discusses five guiding principles (from scholars' work in semiotics) for helping teachers explore the arts and literacy instruction, intended as a framework for understanding representation of meaning, in whatever sign system or art form. Discusses why understanding semiotic systems is important to language arts instruction that represents meaning…

Nancy Martin and James Britton are two retired teachers whose collaborative research on the use of language in learning is profiled. Their language education project promotes personal and democratic uses of literacy.

This study reports the preliminary results from a field test of the College-readiness Performance Assessment System (C-PAS), a large-scale, 6th-12th grade criterion-referenced assessment system that utilizes classroom-embedded performance tasks to measure student progress toward the development of key cognitive skills associated with success in…

This article argues that intervention pilot test evaluations have focused insufficient attention on the measurement of project fidelity and the subsequent use of fidelity results for (a) interpreting variations in project outcomes and (b) understanding the rationale for teachers' deviations from implementation protocols. The authors report on the…

This article provides an overview of each of seven programs evaluated as part of the Social and Character Development Research Program (SACD), a federally-funded multiprogram evaluation project. It further examines the theoretical underpinnings, the teaching strategies employed, the content delivered, modifications made to the implementation or…

Reflection is considered an important aspect of teacher practice. Researchers examined 21 teacher-created language arts blogs to determine whether randomly selected entries within the blogs demonstrated reflection on professional practice. In addition, entries were examined to determine the depth of reflective practice. The amount and depth of…

This article presents five activities that demonstrate developing thinking skills in students, uses comparable ELA and science skills. The thinking skills of Blooms Taxonomy are the organizer. Skills and processes gleaned from NYS ELA and Science Standards included in the article are: categorizing, comparing, following procedures, sequencing,…

Many K-6 teachers and students still think of mathematics as a totally separate subject from literacy. Yet incorporating math content into the language arts block helps students gain skills for reading many kinds of texts. Bringing reading, writing, and talking into the math classroom supports the development of conceptual knowledge and problem…

Although there is a significant body of work related to overall teacher attrition and mobility, little research has been conducted that is specifically related to English teachers. Given the predominance of high-stakes reading and writing assessments for middle and high school students, studying those who teach literacy is critical for a better…