In this piece, a practicing teacher discusses an institutional and collegial experience as she attempts to implement an innovative, research-based curricular model for literacy education.

Like parents, educators should prepare their students to do without them. To achieve this they must understand two concepts they hear about in the world of education: multiple intelligences and media literacy. Research on ways people learn and demonstrate knowledge shows that both are as diverse as the physiques of the students. Some of them learn…

A few weeks into the marking period, the author's eighth-grade students took an all-essay literature test. While grading the tests, she noticed that students made many grammatical errors. It seemed clear that a new approach to grammar instruction was necessary. Staring at this stack of essay tests draws the author in to the concept of…

Describes a small-scale school/college partnership first from the teacher's lens and then from the teacher educator's lens. Discusses 13 critical issues that have emerged from two years of working together. (SR)

Points out reasons why educational innovations fail and suggests ways to make current efforts in writing instruction more successful. (JL)

Suggests that educators fundamentally change the way they teach grammar. Offers the author's experience with some curious success with students taking on grammar as part of their writing process, and gives some ideas about starting the teaching of grammar in a radically different place and as a radical agent. Speaks against using student writing…

The public is deeply concerned that students in urban settings are not achieving at high levels. Over the past twenty years, large urban districts have attempted to restructure massive school systems using educational policymaking processes that have focused on school structures, standards-driven curriculum, and test-based accountability measures.…

Former editors of English Journal review the issues published in the last four decades under their respective editorships, noting trends and developments that may hold promise or provide warnings for the coming decade. (JG)

Uses the form of an original three-act drama to sketch the dilemmas of educational reform. Highlights the experiences of a teacher struggling to reform language arts instruction and assessment in a traditional urban high school. (SR)

Discusses the meaning of teacher excellence and offers some reasons why excellent teachers are in short supply. Suggests steps to improve teacher quality and performance. (RBW)

Examines positions on English education reform in the early 1900s, specifically the following professional concerns: finance, curriculum, teacher recruitment, and professional leadership. Notes that attitudes and circumstances of the past are repeated in the present. (JG)

Discusses the impetus towards social relevance among educators in the 1960s and 1970s, then assesses the resulting interdisciplinary orientation of elementary and secondary school English curricula in the 1980s. Surveys ways that English classes address the social consequences of science and technology. (JG)

Four professionals in English instruction envision a future that contains a 10,000-student secondary school teaching only English language arts, a school where tutors help students learn independently; achieves balance between teaching and institutional ideals of curriculum for basal readers; addresses the writing movement, keyboard instruction,…

The author of the 1970 book of educational predictions "Deciding the Future" reexamines educators' expectations of the 1970s, comparing them with actual developments. He finds many prognostications fulfilled, and foresees continuing alterations in curriculum and policy that follow trends started in the l960s. (JG)

First of a two-part series identifying probable changes in English instruction resulting from technology's impact on society and schools. Predicts consequences of interactive reading and writing software, style checkers, teacher-monitored networks in electronic writing labs, computer generated texts, and desktop publishing. (JG)