The New York State Education Department (NYSED) has a partnership with NWEA for the development of the 2024 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 2024 Grades 6 and 7 English Language…

Composition researchers have become increasingly concerned with the issue of knowledge transfer: the use of knowledge and skills learned in one setting to complete tasks in a different setting. In terms of writing-related knowledge transfer, research suggests that rigid rules and formulas for writing do not transfer as successfully as flexible…

The purpose of a prominent feature analysis is to describe the stylistic flexibility that a young writer, or a group of young writers, exhibits on a given day, with a given prompt. In prominent feature analysis, there are no guidebooks, no rubrics--just student papers and the expertise of teachers. Teachers come to the papers individually and yet…

The purpose of this action research study was to explore possibilities for scaffolding academic language and historical thinking for non-native English speaking students in two middle school classrooms. The teaching approach focused on six dimensions of historical thinking: background knowledge, cause, effect, bias, empathy, and application. The…

Practices for improving adolescent literacy--which includes reading, writing, and speaking--are much discussed and debated among secondary school educators and researchers. At Discovery Middle School in Madison, Alabama, the debate has ended after teachers and administrators implemented several practices that elevated student achievement from…