Motivation and engagement play a crucial role in literacy development and achievement. However, the construct of reading engagement has become blurred and ambiguous, both in research and in discussions of practice. In order to guide future research and to extend our existing understanding of reading engagement into classroom practice, this study…

Science education in the United States will increasingly be driven by testing and accountability requirements, such as those mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act, which rely heavily on learning outcomes, or "standards," that are currently developed on a state-by-state basis. Those standards, in turn, drive curriculum and instruction.…

The theme for the 59th annual conference of the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers was Making a Difference in Our Diverse Communities. The meeting took place in Costa Mesa, California in 2015. In the first section of the Yearbook, Dr. J. Helen Perkins's presidential address shared the story of her journey as an educator and how it…

Some journeys that the author and his colleagues take are by choice and others are forced upon them. Some they take because their hearts, minds, and spirits are drawn to the "rightness" of what lies ahead. Others are done out of obligation and still others rest in their compliance to the demands of others. This article is actually about…

The "No Child Left Behind Act" of 2001 crystallized the concern for accountability in education. National testing was mandated as a way to improve the "broken" educational system. Publicly funded early education programs were not spared from such testing. While the positive effects of high-quality early education on children's…