Evolution of the "old page", or written hardcopy texts, to the "new" (Kress, 2003), or electronic page, means that today's learners have experience with reading a variety of texts. Image, music, and electronic inscription (font, style, flash, and so on) are features of multimodal texts that many learners prefer to read and create. With the screen…

In her more than 30 years of teaching, the author has practiced differentiation in her own classroom at all educational levels. Although she is well familiar with the vocabulary, research and reasoning behind it, the most compelling answer she can give for why differentiation matters in the middle grades comes from her personal experience as an…

This book addresses the role of literacy instruction in enhancing content area learning and fostering student motivation and success well beyond the primary grades. The unique literacy needs of middle school and secondary students are thoroughly examined and effective practices and interventions identified. Reviewing the breadth of current…

This article presents findings from research in a school district using handhelds to support writing across the curriculum. The authors report that handheld devices can be useful to foster classroom note-taking activities, assist students who have handwriting difficulties, and provide inspiration to teachers who want to create collaborative and…

The organization of this book is based upon the principle -- generally accepted in schools today -- that every situation in the school requiring or stimulating social intercommunication or individual self-expression affords significant opportunity for developing language ability. These situations, which are vital and meaningful to the pupils, are…

The organization of this book is based upon the principle -- generally accepted in schools today -- that every situation in the school requiring or stimulating social intercommunication or individual self-expression affords significant opportunity for developing language ability. These situations, which are vital and meaningful to the pupils, are…

The organization of this book is based upon the principle -- generally accepted in schools today -- that every situation in the school requiring or stimulating social intercommunication or individual self-expression affords significant opportunity for developing language ability. These situations, which are vital and meaningful to the pupils, are…

In this article, the authors explore the sources of gender variations in African American middle school students' academic performance. The roots of Black males' underachievement are of particular interest. Because middle schools are essential links in the sequence of opportunities to learn, it is imperative to understand the social and…

ACT conducts the only nationwide curriculum survey that empirically identifies current instructional practices and postsecondary expectations in order to develop tests that measure critical skills and knowledge. Every three years, it surveys thousands of middle school/junior high school, secondary, and postsecondary teachers in English/writing,…

Some previous research results imply that women tend to perform better, relative to men, on constructed-response (CR) tests than on multiple-choice (MC) tests in the same subjects. An analysis of data from several tests used in the licensing of beginning teachers supported this hypothesis, to varying degrees, in most of the tests investigated. The…

This text for pre-service and in-service English education courses presents current methods of teaching literature to middle and high school students. The methods are based on social constructivist/socio-cultural theories of literacy learning, and incorporate research on literary response conducted by the authors. "Teaching Literature to…

The College Board developed a program in the content areas of English and mathematics designed to prepare students for challenging content as early as grade 6 and extending through high school. Conceived with the goal of creating high-quality professional development activities with associated instructional strategies embedded in instructional…

This research brief is published at the mid-way point of a five-year study that is analyzing a spectrum of programs in four states to identify outstanding English instruction in secondary schools. Outstanding schools are defined as those whose students beat the odds and outscore their peers in comparable skills on high-stakes, standardized test of…

This document presents the proceedings of the Annual Research Forum. Included herein are the following 29 studies: (1) What Factors Influence Algebra 1 Students' Attitudes toward Math? (Elizabeth A. Allen); (2) Low-Income Student and Teacher Impressions of Kagan Cooperative Learning (Andrea Anderson); (3) Developing and Implementing an Articulated…

This study examines the relationships between student literacy performance and discussion-based approaches to the development of understanding in 64 middle and high school English classrooms. A series of hierarchical linear models indicated that discussion-based approaches were significantly related to spring performance, controlling for fall…