Standardized literacy assessments that place emphasis on testing and attainment of results have caused many students, particularly in middle years schooling to be disenfranchised by literacy teaching and learning practices. This study employed an action research methodology to investigate whether an outdoor learning experience in a Year 7/8…

The researchers used Gorski's continuum of five approaches to multicultural education--which extends from conservative to liberal and then critical--to analyze 40 syllabi from required or elective courses for candidates seeking licensure to teach in the middle grades (grades 4-9). While the researchers found evidence of all five approaches within…

Researchers attempting to show that music has positive effects on children need to understand and control for preexisting differences between those who do and do not select into musical participation in the first place. Within a large-scale, communitywide, prospective, longitudinal study of predominantly low-income, ethnically diverse students (N…

In the fall of 2001, a local middle school decided to implement a new elective course. This course was designed to assist struggling middle school readers in acquiring the reading proficiency that would be required to succeed in higher level course work. Students remained in their regular English classes, but devoted the elective period that their…