With adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in a majority of U.S. states came the rapid development of new high-stakes exams. Though researchers have investigated CCSS and related policy initiatives, less attention has been directed toward understanding how the standards have been translated into testing programs. Due to the strong…

With the pressure to improve student achievement, and the propensity to use PD to influence instruction, it is easy to overlook the complex process of teacher learning. The Vygotsky Space represents iterative learning within public and private dimensions, where teacher knowledge building is positioned as interactive cultural events situated within…

This paper presents the results of a study aimed at investigating how and why secondary school students use spelling and grammar checkers to aid them in their English writing. The study was a result of close observation over many years of how some students use computers effectively to support their writing, while others make just as much use of…

This report highlights one of six language arts case study teachers whose classroom was studied for a 2-day period to observe writing instruction, to ask questions about the Kentucky Instructional Results Information System assessments, and to talk with her students about their writing. In this paper, the focus is on questions and how this…

A study examined the personal, social, and political functions that underlie the reading and writing that young children do about themselves, their families and communities, and their culture. Subjects, five third-grade children attending an inner-city elementary school, participated in an alternative language arts program involving independent…

A year-long naturalistic case study investigated teacher-initiated change efforts in language arts by examining the experiences and influences of a single sixth-grade teacher. The teacher was observed in multiple contexts (both in and out of her school), interacting with varying groups of individuals, not all of which were located within the…

A study investigated the nature of a sixth-grade community of readers from the emic perspective (participants' point of view). A qualitative interpretive case study was conducted in one sixth-grade language arts classroom with the researcher acting as participant-observer. Data in the form of fieldnotes, interviews, and written samples of…

A study investigated the beliefs and practices of high school language arts teachers regarding mandated multicultural education in the language arts. Subjects, five tenured faculty in the language arts program of a midwestern high school, volunteered to be interviewed and have their classrooms observed while they conducted multicultural…

The Michigan English Language Arts Framework (MELAF) offers an illustrative case of top-down and bottom-up confluences in curriculum policymaking. In several distinct ways, state policy met local initiatives to create dynamic partnerships to spread change. State systematic reformers looked to the grass roots for ideas and percolating initiatives.…

All over the world educators work towards social justice in a variety of classroom projects. How might teachers of English language arts be informed by this variety of projects--all of which involve young people and their teachers exploring relationships between language and power? Theoretically, protagonists of critical literacies have many…

Science is generally not seen as a subject that produces literate readers and writers, which is a major goal in the elementary grades. The purpose of the study reported in this paper was to determine the development of preservice elementary teachers' (N=46) definitions of language arts over the course of a semester. It also looked at ways…

As a co-author of the GEAR-UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) grant proposal to the Department of Education in 1999, the primary author (Kohl) of this paper is in her third year of working at Franklin Middle School, which largely serves at-risk minority students through the University of South Florida (USF),…

This paper examines themes from a cross case analysis of the Buddy System Project, a program that loans students and teachers in selected elementary classes in Indiana a networked home computer and provides schools with additional classroom computers. Qualitative data were collected from 28 homes and 19 classrooms at 4 participating schools. The…

The clamor to integrate computer-based technologies into curriculum generally, and language and literacy education specifically, is a hallmark of current education policy in many countries. A perceived need for education to keep pace and in "sync" with labor market needs is obviously an important part of the story. Technology and…

This study describes and analyzes the use of CD-ROM talking books in a third grade classroom over a 4-month period. One area of interest was in how the teacher used the storybooks in day-to-day efforts to foster learning, especially in the area of language arts. Also examined was the sense children made of these media and the overall impact the…