Demands of the workplace and society have made 21st-century knowledge and skills critical elements for success. As a result, the role of teachers in adequately preparing students to meet these demands continues to grow. National and state standards also call for increased attention to multimodal reading and writing. Today's teachers must have the…

In a mideastern US school district, culturally and linguistically diverse elementary students were not meeting proficiency on the state reading assessments. Elementary teachers in the district were expected to use culturally relevant teaching (CRT) strategies during literacy instruction to help engage and motivate culturally and linguistically…

Principals are responsible for academic achievement within their schools and, as such, drive the decisions in reading instruction for their campus. There is much research on instructional decision-making and reading instruction, but little exists on the connection between the two. This study focuses on the reading instructional decisions of…

In the early days of public education, the main goal was to teach students how to read. Massachusetts took a leading role during colonial times, and later as part of the United States continued to support education (American public education, 2013, p. 2). During the 1600's, residents there sought to write and enact legislation to provide an…

This problem based learning project investigated Missouri elementary administrator preparedness in leading literacy instruction. The most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress Report (NAEP), known as the "Nation's Report Card," showed in 2015 only 36 percent of fourth graders read at or above a proficient level (The National…

This problem based learning project investigated Missouri elementary administrator preparedness in leading literacy instruction. The most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress Report (NAEP), known as the "Nation's Report Card," showed in 2015 only 36 percent of fourth graders read at or above a proficient level (The National…

This action research study was conducted in an elementary school with a team of seven fourth- grade teachers. Transcripts of the fourth-grade teachers' discussions during their common planning sessions were recorded and analyzed. The data revealed that during collaborative planning sessions the teachers repeatedly referred to authentic…