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…

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…

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…

It is now five years since the introduction of the current National Curriculum for English in England; it is just over 50 years since the Dartmouth Conference drew together American and English educationalists. This paper reports on a hermeneutic study that presents voices from the field of English teaching in England. It asks questions of today's…

Future teachers often manifest a low confidence in their own writing and do not see themselves as writers. Developing an identity as authors requires ample opportunities for writing that sustain preservice teachers' discourses and cultural models. As writing across the content areas is considered a powerful way of learning, creating spaces for…

Like most states, Maine is facing staffing shortages. Recent Maine Education Policy Research Institute (MEPRI) studies have documented--both quantitatively and qualitatively--some of the challenges that schools face in filling teacher positions. In this report the authors focus on the supply of educators and assess the feasibility of using…

This profile describes how the Writing Program at Southern Utah University enacts a rhetorical humanist framework in its administrative and curricular structures. At the administrative level, rhetorical humanism offers a collaborative governance model that gives all faculty a voice in programmatic decisions, while managing the cacophony created by…

This investigation examined how middle school teachers implemented Word Generation, a cross-content vocabulary intervention and how the program affected student learning of academic vocabulary words. Participants included four content area teachers and their sixth-grade students. Students received vocabulary instruction in their social studies,…

This article describes a recent implementation of digital literacies in which high school literature students engaged in literary analysis of a novel using the video game Minecraft. Students who had previously expressed reluctance with reading and dissatisfaction with school experiences used their gaming skills to re-create scenes, respond to…

This study examined adolescents' perspectives on their multimodal composing goals and designs when creating digital projects in the context of an English Language Arts class. Sociocultural and social semiotics theoretical frameworks were integrated to understand six 12th grade students' viewpoints when composing three multimodal products--a…

This report provides data on the effects of developmental education on students at Colorado's public higher education institutions and aims to inform the ongoing dialogue regarding preparation for college. Specifically, it documents the data gathered by the Colorado Department of Higher Education (DHE) on students from the Colorado High School…

This action research seeks to determine the impact of teacher training and the use of specific instructional strategies, per the research-based SIOP® teaching model, on English language arts achievement of formally identified first grade English Learners. The study aims to discover if using strategic techniques to teach vocabulary positively…

This article presents research exploring the knowledge pupils bring to texts introduced to them for literary study, how they share knowledge through talk, and how it is elicited by the teacher in the course of an English lesson. It sets classroom discussion in a context where new examination requirements diminish the relevance of social, cultural…

Various instructional approaches have been laid out for conceptualizing argumentation talk and writing in English classrooms. One prominent, and historically durable, approach is formalist--teachers slot the teaching of argument into a form-based approach, usually using the 5-paragraph theme. This model too often fails to persuade students of the…

A liberal arts education can teach young people the habits of mind to enable them to thoughtfully consider how they want to spend their lives. It can also establish the connection between one's self and others, what we call empathy. With insight and understanding, the liberal arts can teach students that education is a matter of the head and the…