This study investigated how three adolescents who struggled to meet school-based standards for reading achievement used popular culture texts both in and out of school. Specifically, we focused on how the adolescents' uses of popular culture shaped and were shaped by adult expectations for literate practice. The adults in our study included two…

The importance of early identification of children at risk for reading failure is clearly established in the literature. The purpose of this longitudinal retrospective study was to further define the relationship between the development of prereading skills and later reading outcome in two groups of children; a group of reading-disabled children…

Christoph and Nystrand (2001) argue that teachers need to take pedagogical risks in order to realize a transformation from teaching monologically, where it is ultimately only the teacher's voice that matters, to teaching dialogically, where multiple voices collide to foster learning. The pedagogical risks of teaching dialogically include…

This article extends recent work on the consequences of literacy-learning reforms by complicating the notion of "policy." Through a qualitative study in one high school, I explored how policy in its many forms, including the ways it was perceived and misperceived, shaped the literacy learning experiences of marginalized adolescent readers.…

Gender gaps in academic achievement have long captured the attention of educational researchers. Although studies from laboratory experiments have reported relatively consistent gender differences in cognitive skills over the decades, investigations done in schools have uncovered dramatic changes. In the United States, educational studies from the…

In his "Wall Street Journal" op-ed on the 25th of anniversary of "A Nation At Risk", former assistant secretary of education Chester E. Finn Jr. applauded the report for turning U.S. education away from equality and toward achievement. It was not surprising, then, that in mid-2008, Finn arranged a conference to examine the…

There are many environmental and personal factors that contribute to reading success. Reading comprehension is a complex interaction of language, sensory perception, memory, and motivational aspects. However, most existing assessment tools have not adequately reflected the complex nature of reading comprehension. Good assessment requires a…

The purpose of this study was to examine oral reading fluency (ORF) in the context of a large-scale federal reading initiative conducted in low performing, high poverty schools. The objectives were to (a) investigate the relation between ORF and comprehensive reading tests, (b) examine whether slope of performance over time on ORF predicted…

A multiage first, second, and third grade classroom includes brothers, sisters, cousins. Two teachers use a developmentally appropriate approach while juggling teaching responsibilities and administering the many tests required by No Child Left Behind. Carter explains their four priorities for children: attendance, responsibility, honesty, and…

This randomized pretest/posttest group study examined the impact of explicit instruction in decoding, comprehension, and fluency on the reading achievement of incarcerated students from facilities in a southwestern (SW) state, a southeastern (SE) state, and a mid-Atlantic (MA) state. Comparisons were made between instruction comprised of higher…

Structural equation modeling procedures are applied to the standardization sample of the Woodcock-Johnson III to simultaneously estimate the effects of a psychometric general factor (g), specific cognitive abilities, and reading skills on reading achievement. The results of this study indicate that g has a strong direct relationship with basic…

The present study focused on students' academic enjoyment as predicted by achievement in multiple academic domains. Assumptions were based on Marsh's internal/external (I/E) frame of reference model and Pekrun's control-value theory of achievement emotions, and were tested in a sample of 1380 German students from grades 5 to 10. Students' academic…

The use and scope of after-school programs (ASPs) have always varied with the local context. Historically, affluent families used ASPs to provide enrichment for their children. During the Civil Rights and Black Nationalist movements, African Americans used ASPs for cultural and educational activities. In recent times, ASPs have been used for…

Researchers agree that language and literacy derive from the first days of a child's life. Children become literate members in society by listening and interacting with the people that surround them. This study examines how children develop literacy through play by looking closely at the benefits of uninterrupted play and how it encourages…

This study investigated the multiple factors affecting English language learners' (ELLs) low reading achievement in standardized tests by exploring the complex, hierarchical relation in student, classroom, and school levels. The data used for this study was from National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), the reading portion of the National…