This revised edition of the "Learning Standards for English Language Arts" for New York State incorporates changes to the content standards and performance indicators based on extensive review by the public. The four standards described in the booklet are that students will read, write, listen, and speak (1) for information and…

In 1989, the Kentucky Supreme Court determined that the state's public school system was unconstitutional and called for the General Assembly to "recreate and re-establish a new system of common schools." A new system of accountability in language arts departments required portfolio assessment that was both objective and strictly…

Title I of the Elementary Secondary Education Act authorizes a federally funded compensatory program for several groups of educationally disadvantaged children. The legislation directs that priority educational needs of these children be identified and programs be designed to provide appropriate supplemental instruction. This report summarizes…

"Success for All" and "Roots and Wings" are comprehensive restructuring programs for elementary schools designed to make the idea that "all children can learn" into a practical, daily organizing principle for schools, especially those serving many children placed at risk. This book describes the programs in detail,…

A project developed a program for improving deficient student-to-student listening skills. The targeted population consisted of 18 seventh-grade middle school students in a culturally diverse, lower middle class community in a near-western suburb of Chicago. The problem of deficient listening skills was evident through teacher observation and…

Intended for teachers who have asked for information on how to manage a multi-age classroom, this book outlines the ideal classroom as it exists when all of the multi-age components are put in place. Opening sections of the guide discuss creating the multi-age classroom, and the advantages and principles of multi-age instruction. The next sections…

A study explored ways that three university-based and two middle-school-based teachers might begin to alter or interrupt discursive practices that have in the past permitted inequities in classroom talk about text to go unexamined and unchanged. A feminist theoretical frame guided the study's focus on gender as a lens for examining power…

Intended especially for teachers who might be a little intimidated by the art of playwriting, this guide provides a step-by-step plan for using drama in the classroom in grades 4-8 to build children's language arts and thinking skills. The guide features a series of engaging activities where students will learn how to write dialogue, set scenes,…

Information on current trends and issues informally discussed and then delineated by the directors of six National Council of Teachers of English commissions, is presented in this 13th annual report. The commissions and their directors are: (1) Commission on Curriculum (Dorothy King); (2) Commission on Composition (Christine Kline); (3) Commission…

This paper reports the results of a large-scale portfolio pilot in which over 2,000 secondary students submitted portfolios in language arts, mathematics, and science classes. Students were asked to select work for their portfolios based on the criteria that would be used to evaluate the work. Students also reflected on how their work satisfied…

As part of course requirements, preservice teachers in the reading/language arts early field program at the University of Southern Mississippi write two case narratives per semester about their teaching experiences in an urban elementary school. This paper discusses the benefits of case writing for preservice teachers and explains the specific…

This paper presents the results of a document and interview analysis focusing on the standards and frameworks materials that have been newly developed for teachers and administrators in New York to determine the fit between these guidelines and the developing sociocultural concept of curriculum as "conversation" within the domains of…

A large school district conducting a revision of its curriculum-based assessment program for grades one through six introduced performance assessments in response to a demand for more authentic assessment associated with national concerns for standards-based educational reform. This study reports validity evidence for the locally developed reading…

This paper presents one sixth-grade teacher's efforts to advance curriculum at a Hawaii elementary school through continuous monitoring of the effectiveness of her learning and teaching program. Deliberate and careful reflections in personal teaching journals, meetings with an educational consultant, school administrators, and teaching colleagues,…

The purpose of this book is to provide pathways to cultural enlightenment that can be used in any classroom. Activities are presented to enhance student involvement and promote individual learning. With each of the detailed units of study presented, varied levels of learning activities are offered. The odd-numbered chapters, beginning with Chapter…