Demands of the workplace and society have made 21st-century knowledge and skills critical elements for success. As a result, the role of teachers in adequately preparing students to meet these demands continues to grow. National and state standards also call for increased attention to multimodal reading and writing. Today's teachers must have the…

Negative portrayals in the Australian media situate teachers as a problem and teaching as a deficit practice. Society is positioning teachers, especially teachers of literacy, as the reason for poor student performance. In addition, negative media discourse around deficit initial teacher education, especially with regard to the teaching of reading…

Interactive read-alouds are versatile in that teachers can teach an array of literacy skills through this instructional strategy. However, our observations of six primary grade teachers and prior research revealed that teachers' implementation of interactive read-alouds varies. Without the necessary planning and preparation for interactive…

If educators want to improve reading achievement on scale, Shanahan notes, we need to organize school days more effectively, so they support increased literacy learning--not hinder it. He presents suggestions for increasing the amount of literacy instruction elementary students receive, through more flexibility of scheduling and more wisely…

Meeting a tremendous need for K-8 schools and educators, this timely book outlines core principles for counteracting the disruptions of the pandemic and recovering from learning loss. The authors present a holistic approach to responsive literacy instruction to support all students' academic and social-emotional growth, now and in the years to…

After a universal screening assessment, how can K-6 educators translate the results into evidence-based instruction, targeted interventions, and improved reading outcomes? The timely new edition of this bestselling book has clear and practical answers. Fully updated with the latest reading research and models, this teacher-friendly planning guide…

In a mideastern US school district, culturally and linguistically diverse elementary students were not meeting proficiency on the state reading assessments. Elementary teachers in the district were expected to use culturally relevant teaching (CRT) strategies during literacy instruction to help engage and motivate culturally and linguistically…

Principals are responsible for academic achievement within their schools and, as such, drive the decisions in reading instruction for their campus. There is much research on instructional decision-making and reading instruction, but little exists on the connection between the two. This study focuses on the reading instructional decisions of…

The purpose of this investigation is to examine how teacher candidates create and teach lesson plans that include trade books and the 5E model of inquiry science. Specifically, this study examines how elementary school teacher candidates, enrolled in a science methods course, intended to use trade books to teach interdisciplinary science and…

This study explored how the pedagogical knowledge construct of TPACK and a scaffolded use of the gradual release of responsibility framework helped preservice teachers design literacy instruction with the iPad. This qualitative study used an interpretivist approach and case study design to closely examine each participant's (n = 38) experience to…

For linguistically diverse students, the path to college is often defined by language. Depending on assessments and institutional policies, students may be placed into course sequences in developmental English, adult basic education, and/or English as a Second Language courses. The purpose of this study was to better understand developmental…

This study explored the patterns of Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) in 45 preservice teachers' literacy lesson plans that integrated digital texts or tools. A priori coding and content analysis were used to identify preservice teachers' demonstrations of combinations of TPACK constructs. Findings indicated that preservice…

The research is clear: reading proficiently prepares students for lifelong success. Unfortunately, Tennessee students have fallen behind their peers across the nation in reading. Over the past several years, the results in reading have remained stagnant and, in some cases, have declined. In 2015, on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program…

In the early days of public education, the main goal was to teach students how to read. Massachusetts took a leading role during colonial times, and later as part of the United States continued to support education (American public education, 2013, p. 2). During the 1600's, residents there sought to write and enact legislation to provide an…

This problem based learning project investigated Missouri elementary administrator preparedness in leading literacy instruction. The most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress Report (NAEP), known as the "Nation's Report Card," showed in 2015 only 36 percent of fourth graders read at or above a proficient level (The National…