The purpose of this quantitative relational study was to examine if an association existed between the independent variables, instructional strategies, amount of class time used to teach science, frequency of science instruction, number of courses the teacher has taken in science method or content, and the dependent variable, a school's API…

The authors, former middle and high school English teachers, review the rationale for using humor and fun in the classroom and provide detailed descriptions for teaching practices and activities that confer enjoyment and learning for language arts students. Although fun activities, these methods foster vocabulary development, grammar instruction,…

Barriers to success in postsecondary programs for student parents can be identified in data from the 2008 National Postsecondary Student Aid Survey, administered by the U.S. Department of Education. Indicators show that basic literacy skills of student parents lag behind those of students without children. Upon arriving at postsecondary…

If a university-school partnership is to be viewed as a mutualistic relationship, benefits should be provided not only to the preservice teachers, but to the members of the school environment as well. As a means of exemplifying how to connect the learning of students, in-service and preservice teachers, and teacher educators, this article…

This book overturns the typical conception of standards, empowering educators by providing concrete examples of how top-down models of assessment can be embraced and used in ways that are consistent with critical pedagogies. Although standards, as broad frameworks for setting learning targets, are not necessarily problematic, when they are…

This qualitative study examined middle grades preservice language arts teachers' perceptions of young adult literature through the lenses of reader response, new literacy, and activity theory. Undergraduate preservice teachers used synchronous and asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) to respond online to three young adult books with…

There is a growing movement in education to address concepts of sustainability across the curriculum. The English Language Arts curriculum is about reading the word and the world (Freire, 1993) and therefore is a natural place to begin reading, writing and discussing issues of global importance. A holistic view of English education through the…

All educators need to be aware of issues regarding school violence. Recent years have shown that violence can happen in a variety of school settings. This study conducted a one-group, pretest-posttest, pre-experimental design to explore pre-service teachers' perceptions regarding school violence. First, pre-service educators were asked to complete…

Student teaching is a cornerstone of teacher preparation, yet it remains one of the most difficult experiences to understand. Calls for an ecological approach to research on student teaching prompted this study in which the experience is examined from the perspective of the three key triad members. Using activity theory, this study explores how…

Do novice teachers effectively use teaching strategies they learn in a preservice course? This study examines how five novice intermediate (Grades 7-10) English language arts teachers implemented reader response journals, an instructional activity they learned about in their preservice English methods course. During interviews, they shared the…

This study develops and documents a new methodology that uses the Lexile Framework[R] for Reading to determine the proportion of grade 11 Texas public school students whose scores on the exit-level Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills for English language arts and reading (TAKS-ELAR) or the TAKS-ELAR Accommodated indicate the ability to read…

This study develops and documents a new methodology that uses the Lexile Framework[R] for Reading to determine the proportion of grade 11 Texas public school students whose scores on the exit-level Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills for English language arts and reading (TAKS-ELAR) or the TAKS-ELAR Accommodated indicate the ability to read…

This article examines the construction of an intercultural critical literacy practice in a Web-based discussion forum as one way to globalize interpretive practices within the English classroom. English education students in the United States and Sweden discussed a short story over a period of three weeks. The analysis of the students' postings…

The author calls for incorporating into English classes what he calls museum-based pedagogy, arguing that it enables the teaching of multiple literacies: verbal, visual, technological, social, and critical. In part, this pedagogy consists of classroom instruction that enables students to understand the persuasive nature of museum displays--the…

"Perspective" is a monthly e-newsletter presenting news and views from Achieve. This month's issue commences with a report stating how over the past five years, since the National Governors Association (NGA) and Achieve co-sponsored the National Education Summit on High Schools, states have made impressive progress in aligning their high…