The construct of academic language--while of great interest, in part, because of recently adopted or revised content and English-language development (ELD) standards that explicitly focus on academic language--and its role in the academic success of all students, including young learners and English learners (ELs), is far from clearly understood.…

The noise in generating an agreed upon definition of instructional leadership that extends beyond theory to the practice of principals has been almost deafening in the last few decades. Many emphasize the need for the role of the principal to adapt to meet the demands of leadership that maximizes student achievement, but lack the specificity to…

As teachers modify their instruction to meet English Language Arts (ELA) Common Core State Standards (CCSS), how do these modifications influence literacy instruction and learning opportunities afforded to students? While the CCSS standardized objectives for literacy instruction, the enacted curriculum is uniquely shaped by teachers and their…

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine the experiences of Louisiana's Ensuring Literacy For All (ELFA) initiative from the perspective of educational administrators in order to identify: (a) the factors within ELFA that contributed to student reading performance; (b) the effects of the perceptions of ELFA…

With budget cuts and the heavy emphasis placed in recent years on student achievement in language arts and mathematics, arts instruction has been greatly reduced in California elementary schools. Yet the research literature has shown arts instruction to be associated with improved literacy skills (Bransford & Schwartz, 1999). Podlozny (2002),…