Middle school teachers at a rural site in a western state have faced problems in implementing Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts (ELA), as well as in resolving achievement gaps in ELA between regular education students, special education (SPED) students, English language learners (ELL), and at-risk students. The purpose…

The following designed-based implementation research (DBIR) study explores the impacts of a research-practice partnership (RPP) on two fifth grade ELA teachers and the researcher as they engaged with the designing and implementation of two critical literacy pedagogy (CLP) units through the adaptation of mandated New York State Common Core (NYSCC)…

In October 2023, the California Department of Education released test scores for all students in Grades 3-8 and 11 for the 2022-23 school year. These results represent an opportunity to analyze whether and to what extent student learning has rebounded after the dramatic declines in scores resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and related school…

Frameworks that connect to the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in Social Studies, such as the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies States Standards, highlight the need to engage in inquiry-based instruction (NCSS, 2013). Participation in such inquiry requires students to engage in…

In this technical report, we present the results of a 2020-2021 study of the alignment between the easyCBM© mathematics and literacy assessments and the content standards adopted in the fifty U.S. states. The study used a three-wave process. First, a team of researchers gathered the status of state standard information for mathematics and English…

Pared down standards, according to ASCD author Mike Schmoker, are the cure to the Common Core. In this provocative article, Schmoker describes how the Common Core literacy standards have largely been a "disaster"--their tangled implementation "an impossible profusion of grade-by-grade minutiae." To "right the ship of…

Teaching grammar can be overwhelming and is often an overlooked part of effective instruction. "The Middle School Grammar Toolkit" to the rescue! Now in its second edition, this comprehensive guide makes grammar instruction fun and meaningful. You will learn how to: (1) Teach grammar in a practical and applicable way by presenting each…

The authors of this article call upon classroom memories to demonstrate the harm of the standardized testing apparatus in the English Language Arts (ELA) classroom. Goal setting under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) has led to targeted school intervention based on metrics, and many states have chosen to double down on standardized ELA and…

As accountability initiatives in public education such as the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) begin to gain traction, it is apparent that physical educators must integrate English Language Arts (ELA) literacy tasks into their daily instruction. This study tested whether physical education (PE) teachers have less experience and exhibit bias when…

This teacher research study utilized a multiple case study approach to explore how 7th grade students in three concurrent ELA settings perceived teaching and learning in classroom environments with varying degree of new literacies implementation. Students were studied in a supplemental ELA class known as TEAM time and during their voluntary…

In 2010, California adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for math and English. The new standards are part of a state effort to prepare students for college and careers in the 21st-century global economy and narrow longstanding achievement gaps. The state's implementation is complete, but because districts decide whether and when they…

Due to the Common Core State Standards, close reading is becoming a common practice in today's elementary and middle school classrooms. Qualitative content analysis of journal publications was used to determine the (a) prevalence of close reading in the existing literature, (b) knowledge about close reading from the research literature, (c) themes…

Professional development is a term researched, defined, and developed for decades. The term professional development is a critical component to the effectiveness of teacher practice and implementation of teacher resources that can ultimately affect student achievement. As professional development evolves, research on this topic centers on changes…

In this article, the authors begin this inquiry by describing their research with a class of middle school writers who played "Quandary," a free online educational game designed to teach argumentation, as part of a unit on writing arguments for environmental action. Regarding the subject area of English language arts (ELA), research has…

Successful implementation of academic standards depends on teachers' understanding of the intended policy and their interpretation of what the policy means for their instruction (Spillane et al., 2002). This study examines the writing tasks fourth- and fifth- grade teachers understand as being aligned with the CCSS [Common Core State Standards],…