This dissertation uses practitioner inquiry (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999, 2009), narrative inquiry (Clandinin & Connelly, 1990; Rolling & Bey, 2016; Schaafsma & Vinz, 2011; Toliver, 2020a), composite character counter storytelling (Baker-Bell, 2020), and critical discourse analysis (Bloome et al., 2008; Bloome & Power-Carter,…

Community college students represent approximately half of all postsecondary students in the United States. The purpose of community colleges is to provide open-door access to higher education for students who otherwise would not have the opportunity. Earning an associate degree or a certificate translates into higher lifetime earnings compared to…

Following the racial unrest of 2020, anti-racist rhetoric from K-12 schools and university teacher education institutes magnified. Despite claiming alliance with anti-racism, it became unclear whether the actions of teacher education, both in-service and pre-service, matched their rhetoric. To determine how, if at all, teacher education informs…

While the student population in U.S. public schools is diversifying, the teacher population and curriculum remain monochromatic. This action research study grew from the observation that racial and cultural content and discourse were absent from the English classrooms in my suburban high school due to a perceived lack of teacher cultural…

Teacher discourse is one way to scaffold instruction for students and is especially important for multilingual learners (MLs). With an ever-growing population of MLs, this topic demands attention. This study takes steps to meet this demand by presenting a language-based approach to content instruction (LACI), a guiding framework comprised of six…

To become successful readers, adolescents have to navigate multiple internal factors related to their literacy, namely their capability, identity, and self-efficacy as readers. They also must journey through the literacy demands of a school day, and their resulting experiences continuously shape their self-perceptions of identity and…

We are living through a historical moment that is marked by a protracted struggle for systemic changes in the United States as demanded by the broader Movement for Black Lives, as well as a visible increase in White supremacist violence. Although studying race and racism should have always been part of the kindergarten through twelfth-grade…

How to best utilize curriculum time has long been a question for England's schools, which are free to vary time between subjects or to extend the school day/week. This question has now risen to national prominence as policymakers consider ways to help support students catch up lost learning after the COVID-19 pandemic. This article explores the…

The "EncycloMEdia" project provides a stimulating project-based opportunity for gifted and talented students in the middle and upper grades. Its first component is an arts-integration piece in the form of an altered book. The second component is a cumulative assessment document containing students' text-based analyses that correspond to…

The Teacher of the Year (TOY) program is the longest-standing teacher recognition program in the United States. The purpose of this study is to describe the characteristics of state and national TOY awardees and the schools in which they teach. To accomplish this aim, we develop a new data set including the characteristics of all TOY awardees and…

This paper establishes five new facts about instructional costs in higher education using department-level data from a broad range of institutions. Costs vary widely across fields, ranging from electrical engineering (90% higher than English) to math (25% lower). This pattern is largely explained by differences in class size and faculty pay. Some…

Purpose: This paper encourages teachers and scholars of English Language Arts to engage deliberately with literary ambiguity. Design/methodology/approach: Through close attention to ambiguous moments in commonly taught texts, the essay argues that explicit attention to ambiguity can support four enduring goals in the field: fostering social…

Statement of Purpose and Method of Study: The purpose of this study was to examine the possible relationships between co-curricular scheduling models, student choice of co-curricular courses, and scores on the English Language Arts and mathematics Mississippi Academic Assessment Program (MAAP) scale for students in sixth, seventh, and eighth…

Over the past 60 years, the federal government has paid much attention to and devoted resources for combating reading failure for children in the United States. Several policies have been enacted over time, from the Reading Excellence Act of 1985, to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, to the adoption of the Common Core State Standards in 2010.…

The purpose of this study was to determine how the use of www.achieve3000.com, as a computer-based supplemental English Language Art (ELA) instructional tool, affected middle school students' ELA achievement. 455 middle school ELA students from the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades participated in this study. The collected student achievement that…