Across the U.S., educators face a common challenge: How can we help all students become strong readers and writers? In the author's state of Tennessee, many educators believe they have a reading crisis. Two-thirds of 3rd graders do not read and write on grade level as measured by the statewide assessment (Tennessee Department of Education, 2019a).…

Current plans to use National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results to compare and rank states may lead to a perception of NAEP as a national achievement test representing a national curriculum. NAEP procedures should be reformulated to enhance curriculum coherence, instruction, and participation by local and state educators. (TJH)

This study examined differences in nine factors between a group of the highest-performing needs high schools (HPHN) and a group of the lowest performing high-needs (LPHN) high schools using teacher responses from a national dataset. The factors are: (1) shared mission and goals; (2) professional development; (3) collaboration among teachers (4)…