According to the author, last year they set out to apply the four-step approach that they found in research from the University of Kentucky to design a unit for their language arts curriculum. They identified the appropriate standards, figured out what skills they would teach in conformance with the standards and what outcomes were expected, and…

This study draws from a number of researchers who push for critical literacy and a critical stance to question power, inequality, and the status quo; to understand scholars' own participation in power structures; and to reframe and retheorize scholars' beliefs and understandings. In this article, the author uses the critical stance framework to…

Few studies identify those factors that might account for the development of social capital. Understanding those factors associated with the existence of a social tie among actors in schools is important because absent social ties, individuals do not have access to social resources. We investigate social tie formation in schools focusing on advice…

This pilot study sought to develop and evaluate the use of a treatment package that included systematic and direct instruction on acquisition of literacy skills aligned with middle school English/Language Arts standards for students with moderate to severe disabilities, including autism. Participants included five teachers and 15 middle school…

In this study the authors examined the psychometric properties of the "Student Risk Screening Scale" (SRSS), including predictive validity in terms of student outcomes in behavioral and academic domains. The school, a diverse, suburban school in Southern California, administered the SRSS at three time points as part of regular school…

Stories are woven so tightly into the fabric of our everyday lives that it's easy to overlook their significance in framing how we think about ourselves and the world. Stories are meaning making, providing a means of structuring and reflecting on our experiences in order to understand their significance. Story is also life making, a way of…

This study provides elementary gifted and talented students: Social Studies, Math, Turkish, Science, and Foreign Language courses in terms of differentiation, challenging activities and classroom climate. Research studies contend the significance of differentiation, challenging curriculum and instruction, suitable classroom climate to provide…

Past studies have shown positive correlations between the arts and academic achievement when the arts were integrated into the literature curriculum. Other studies have shown positive associations between the arts and other areas of the curriculum, such as mathematics and science. Considering the Theory of Change, which employs understandings in…

Recent years have seen the convergence of two major policy streams in U.S. K-12 education: standards/accountability and teacher quality reforms. Work in these areas has led to the creation of multiple measures of teacher quality, including measures of their instructional alignment to standards/assessments, observational and student survey measures…

For educators, the content of the curriculum really is like oxygen: it is the necessary precondition for improving schools, closing the achievement gap, engaging parents, and preparing teachers. However, when educators take the content of the curriculum for granted, they lose opportunities to coordinate and collaborate. Good curriculum instruction…

A random sample of language arts, social studies, and science middle school teachers from the United States were surveyed about their preparation to teach writing, beliefs about responsibilities for teaching writing, use of evidence-based writing practices, assessment of writing, use of technology, and adaptations for struggling writers. The…

In this study, we examined how the relationships between one observation protocol, the Protocol for Language Arts Teaching Observation (PLATO), and value-added measures shift when different tests are used to assess student achievement. Using data from the Measures of Effective Teaching Project, we found that PLATO was more strongly related to the…

The purpose of this eight week study was to provide explicit instruction to improve spelling to 124 sixth grade students who are speakers of African American English (AAE). Two classroom teachers taught 14 different language arts class sections. The research design was a pretest/posttest/posttest design using wait-list-control. The treatment group…

A successful middle school team of teachers employed effective middle level philosophy to structure a curriculum around themes that were relevant, challenging, integrative, and engaging for their particular students and community. Realizing that their young adolescents were involved in tough, delicate issues in their out-of-school lives, the…

Academic English (AE) refers to the language used in school to help students acquire and use knowledge. This article reviews current literature to determine what is known about the nature of AE within the context of K-12 schooling. It describes how AE is conceptualized in the education research literature, how these conceptualizations are realized…