A Concept-Based Curriculum is designed to help students uncover important, transferable understandings about what it means to be a capable reader, writer, speaker, viewer, listener, and thinker. But, too often, a well-designed, conceptual curriculum does not translate into conceptual teaching. "Concept Based Literacy Lessons" helps…

The New York State Education Department (NYSED) has a partnership with Questar Assessment Inc. (Questar) for the development of the 2019 Grades 3-8 English Language Arts Tests. Teachers from across the State work with NYSED in a variety of activities to ensure the validity and reliability of the New York State Testing Program (NYSTP). The 2019…

The New York State Education Department (NYSED) has a partnership with Questar Assessment Inc. (Questar) for the development of the 2020 Grades 3-8 English Language Arts Tests. Teachers from across the State work with NYSED in a variety of activities to ensure the validity and reliability of the New York State Testing Program (NYSTP). The 2020…

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 New York State Education Department (NYSED) has a partnership with Questar Assessment Inc. (Questar) for the development of the 2020 Grades 3-8 English Language Arts Tests. Teachers from across the State work with NYSED in a variety of activities to ensure the validity and reliability of the New York State Testing Program (NYSTP). The 2020…

Literacy learning clubs are highly motivating small-group collaborations that can improve tweens' and teens' academic achievement, support their social-emotional development, and increase their enjoyment of reading and writing. This book explains the research basis for the author's approach and offers practical instructions for implementation in…

This document describes the model used by the New York State Education Department (NYSED) to measure student growth for institutional accountability in New York State for the 2016/17 school year. In 2016/17, growth models were implemented for institutional accountability in Grades 4-8 ELA and mathematics. All models are based on assessing each…

This document describes the model used by the New York State Education Department (NYSED) to measure student growth for institutional accountability in New York State for the 2015/16 school year. In 2015/16, growth models were implemented for institutional accountability in Grades 4-8 ELA and mathematics. All models are based on assessing each…

In this article, the author describes her use of dramatic performance to promote tellability in narrative writing within a seventh and eighth grade English and language arts classroom. By experiencing dramatic performance, the students were able to actively and physically perform the writing process: brainstorming, drafting, revising, and editing.…

This article describes one middle school teacher's use of literature circles using heterogeneous grouping. It begins with a brief rationale for using literature circles in the language arts classroom. Next, it describes techniques to form literature circles. Then, it shares how to build and establish a supportive environment within each group. It…

"Louisiana Believes” embraces the principle that all children can achieve at high levels, as evidenced in Louisiana's recent adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). "Louisiana Believes" also promotes the idea that Louisiana's educators should be empowered to make decisions to support the success of their students. In…

Graphic art can be a tough subject approach with seventh- and eighth-graders, but by mixing a little language arts into the studio lesson, they can have fun with the art of words in a whole new way. In this article, the author describes how students created a graphic design using a word. The purpose of the graphic art is to educate--to teach an…

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) has forged alliances with key national organizations representing the core academic subjects, including Social Studies, English, Math, Science, Geography, World Languages and the Arts. These collaborations have resulted in the development of 21st Century Skills Maps that illustrate the essential…

Middle grades teachers should create meaningful learning activities involving stimulating literature and interesting composition prompts. This article describes a unit in which eighth graders read short stories by Edgar Allan Poe. Using multiple learning and teaching approaches, they expanded their vocabularies, responded artistically to "The…

As part of its proposal to the U.S. Department of Education, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) committed to developing model content frameworks for English language arts/literacy (ELA/Literacy) to serve as a bridge between the Common Core State Standards and the PARCC assessments. The Model Content…