When trying to promote empathy, it is not sufficient to merely learn about other people and cultures if we seek to understand them better (Case, 1993). As a language arts teacher and researcher, the author sought to explore the potential for multicultural literature to expand adolescent learners' worldviews and shape their perceptions as global…

Teacher discourse is one way to scaffold instruction for students and is especially important for multilingual learners (MLs). With an ever-growing population of MLs, this topic demands attention. This study takes steps to meet this demand by presenting a language-based approach to content instruction (LACI), a guiding framework comprised of six…

This study investigated the effects of the Leader in Me (LiM), a social-emotional learning program implemented in thousands of schools. A mixed-method design included (1) a collective case study in four diverse, high-implementing elementary schools and (2) a post hoc quasi-experiment using propensity score 1:3 matching of 117 LiM and 348 non-LiM…

This paper explores enabling conditions for scaling high-quality project-based learning (PBL) to understand factors that influence how PBL spreads, whether and how it can be sustained and the extent to which it informs meaningful change in schools. We report on a year-long collaboration across three research projects. Each project team analyzed…

In this article, the authors present a qualitative study focused on preservice teachers employing a framework using tenets of critical race theory (CRT)--permanence of racism, experiential knowledge and counter-storytelling, interest convergence, and critique of liberalism--in literature study. Drawing on critical English education, critical race…

The purpose of this correlational, explanatory, cross-sectional quantitative research was to determine whether teacher absenteeism and student achievement are related in rural schools. This correlational study examines the predictor variable of teacher absenteeism on academic outcomes and also is inclusive of control variables teacher mobility,…

Much research on children's classroom drawing emerged from an interest in the relationships between drawing and early writing and focused on drawing as a pedagogical tool to engage young children in planning, generating, and illustrating story ideas. In an eight-month case study of children's drawing in a kindergarten language arts curriculum, the…

Purpose: In this paper, the authors engage with embodied critical literacies through an exploration of the possibilities provided by the use of improvisational comedy (improv) in the classroom. The purpose of this paper is to extend understandings of critical literacy to consider how embodied critical literacy may be transformative for both…

This single instrument case study illuminates the aesthetic transactions an adolescent male student constructs in response to an experimental Gothic studies reading unit implemented by his cooperating teacher over a sixth month period in his seventh grade ELA (English/ Language Arts) class. Ray is described as ''lazy' regarding academic reading…

The present study examined how 20 sixth-grade students made meaning while reading graphic novels. Participants completed multiple tasks during a 6-week period. Data sources comprised 1 reading survey, 2 teacher-student conferences, 5 small-group discussions, 1 visual stopping points assignment, and multiple journal entries. Grounded theory methods…

To engage in critical praxis, teachers of literary response writing need concepts and methods for understanding the efficacy of teaching practices in helping students develop particular dispositions towards texts and the social issues they represent. In this article, the author uses concepts from Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) and Systemic…

Research shows that family involvement in learning activities at school improves students' academic performance and social cohesion. This study analyses the impact of involving families through interactive groups, dialogic literary gatherings and tutored library in a Mexican primary school in a highly underprivileged urban area, within the…

Is parental involvement a relevant factor in explaining academic performance in the most disadvantaged socioeconomic contexts? This article examines the effect of parental involvement on the Language and Mathematics performance of third grade students attending low-SES schools in Santiago de Chile. Multilevel linear regression models are used…

Teachers in Nevada have faced the problem of providing consistent, effective literacy instruction to elementary students, which impacts overall student achievement; only 48.3% of students in Clark County, Nevada were proficient in English Language Arts (ELA) in the 2018-2019 school year. This problem was explored from a case study perspective…

School administrators have the challenge of providing high-quality education in all subject areas. Along with this task, administrators must wade through countless programs, curriculums, while ensuring that student needs are met along with required state and local test scores. While the focus on reform has been in math and science, writing…