Science texts tend to privilege the voices, perspectives, and practices of White males (e.g., Ford, 2006), reinforcing widely-held perceptions of scientists as White men. This narrow portrayal of who "does science" discourages BIPOC or female students from building a science identity (Archer et al., 2015), with many such students also…

The science of reading movement has done much to improve instruction in foundational skills. But that hard-won progress may be reversed unless we also help children acquire the knowledge and vocabulary they need to understand complex text. At the same time, the science of learning movement has introduced many educators to evidence-based teaching…

Elementary teachers are tasked with teaching the language and literacy strategies and skills leading to reading comprehension while also teaching disciplinary content that is the subject of texts, frequently with limited instructional time. Prior research demonstrates that an integrated approach to science and literacy instruction featuring…

Each summer, an elementary school on the New England coast is bustling with elementary students. The students are predominantly English learners (ELs) who struggle with reading, writing, and communication skills. The students are participating in a four-week summer program focused on increasing literacy skills through scientific investigations.…

Statistical literacy is critical for all sociology students because it facilitates academic and professional success, high-paying jobs, and informed citizenship. Most students, however, lack adequate statistical literacy to engage with sociological research. Within that general deficit, there are gender, racial, and social-class differences, with…

States' efforts to incorporate technology and engineering into K-12 science instruction appear to be bearing fruit: More than five years after states began adopting K-12 science standards that feature technology and engineering, eighth graders have notched higher scores on a national assessment of those subjects. This Policy Brief presents…

Research in genetics and genomics is advancing at a fast pace, and thus keeping up with the most recent findings and conclusions can be very challenging. At the same time these recent findings and conclusions have made necessary a reconceptualization of genes and heredity, both in science and in science education, beyond the mostly gene-centred…

For two decades, the state role in educating children before kindergarten has been growing, and it is accelerating. Enrollment in state-funded preschool today far exceeds that in federal Head Start, and states are the dominant provider at age 4, serving about half of all four-year-olds who attend any preschool program. New universal preschool…

Learning the unique linguistic forms and structures that construct and communicate scientific principles, knowledge, and beliefs is important for developing students' disciplinary literacy. The use of scientific language is apparent in the texts that scientists produce to communicate their findings to other scientists--the research articles. Texts…

This article argues that scholarship on literacy in and across the disciplines has disproportionately focused on the core subjects of English, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies rather than on "specialist" subjects such as Physical Education. This disparity in emphasis has provided little guidance to specialist teachers seeking to…

Improving the reading ability of young students could hardly be a more urgent priority for our elementary schools. Two thirds of American fourth and eighth graders are not able to read proficiently--and the outcomes are far worse for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The National Assessment of Educational Progress in 2019 showed that only…

Asbury and Wai ("Journal of School Choice," 2019) perform a valuable service by summarizing much available behavior--genetic research on academic achievement. However they consider that no specific policies stem from the research body at this time. Here we do propose a policy based on some of our research using twins, namely that…

This paper examines how international, large-scale skills assessments (ILSAs) engage with the broader societies they seek to serve and improve. It looks particularly at the discursive work that is done by different interest groups and the media through which the findings become part of public conversations and are translated into usable form in…

Disciplinary literacy focuses on the specific ways a content area thinks, uses language, and shares information. While much of the literature on disciplinary literacy suggests it is an advanced language strategy to be taught to secondary students, early childhood classrooms may be the ideal environment in which to introduce this type of…

The driving question for this brief is based on the most common question that teachers, principals, school leaders, coaches, and grant writers ask the Buck Institute for Education (BIE) about Project Based Learning (PBL): What evidence exists that shows the impact of Project Based Learning on student learning in core content areas? Research shows…