This case study explored dog-assisted reading with three middle-school special education students in a self-contained alternative school. Data collection conducted over a 15-month period included observations, interviews, and artifacts. In this study, reading with therapy dogs and their handlers, helped three adolescent readers with their reading…

Much has been written about the "boy crisis" in the last two decades in regards to achievement in school and the struggles boys face in literacy learning. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data demonstrate that girls consistently outperform boys in reading and writing (Educational Alliance, 2006). Therefore, the…

Youth in middle and secondary grades, between childhood and the adult world, sometimes struggle with their identities as readers and learners. Too many describe themselves or are described by their teachers and parents as "reluctant, disengaged, and/or unmotivated" by classroom texts or by the rows of books in school libraries. Even…

The Internet is full of tools for vocabulary development, but the quality and usefulness for teachers and students vary greatly. With a traditionalist's respect for word knowledge and an adventurer's spirit for discovering new routes to learning, Lee Ann Tysseling shares an exciting array of technology-assisted resources that can boost students'…

The phases of post-apartheid curriculum reform starting with Curriculum 2005, to the revisions ushered in by the National Curriculum Statements and the recent Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements display a trend toward increasing prescription in terms of content to be taught and allocation of curriculum time per subject, both of which are…

The introduction of Common Core State Standards has many middle grade school teachers concerned with implementing standards while retaining student reading engagement and motivation strategies. This study analyzes the effectiveness of providing social networking strategies in online book discussion groups on enhancing middle grade student reading…

The purpose of this study was to measure the motivation for academic and recreational reading of 6th grade students in a middle school located in southwest Florida using the Elementary Reading Attitude Survey (ERAS). In this mixed methods study, motivation for both types of reading were measured, individual demographics of the population, such as…

Within the last decade, state and federal policy makers advanced many reforms to improve the academic achievement of linguistically and culturally diverse students across the country. These leaders embraced a traditional input-output paradigm where policy mandates (input) would lead to positive student achievement (output). This approach fails to…

This mixed-methods study explored the characteristics of a reading program at a South Central Los Angeles charter school, as well as explored the relationship between motivational and affective factors on the Student Approaches to Learning (SAL) instrument and students' reading lexile scores. Data were collected through student questionnaire…

In adolescent literacy research, there is a gap in literature relating to adolescent constructions of reading. It is not possible to gather significant research on the topic without hearing from the adolescents themselves. The purpose of this qualitative study was to discover what the adolescent participants consider to be "reading" and…

Reading underachievement among adolescent students, particularly in urban areas, has been well documented in the literature. This reality points to two problems: Schools possess neither the capacity needed to prepare students for higher education and the workforce, nor the ability to help students view literacy as a tool for critical thinking,…

The purpose of this article is to elucidate how book clubs can be used as a forum to enhance students' social-emotional and academic learning. The author conducted a study in a small urban high school with 2 different book clubs: The younger group consisted of 2 African American 9th graders, 2 Latina 9th graders, and 1 African American 10th…

It can be difficult for school psychologists to become involved in research within their day-to-day role. This article details real world research undertaken in a single high school to identify and address mechanisms which were contributing to boys' literacy underachievement. In an attempt to promote reading engagement and motivation amongst high…

A team of researchers revised the Motivation to Read Profile for use with adolescents. Instruments to assess adolescents' in- and out-of-school reading motivations were administered. A survey adapted for adolescents was administered to 384 teens at eight sites throughout the United States and Trinidad, and 100 students were interviewed using a…

Mario, an adolescent English-language learner and struggling reader, participated in a university-sponsored summer literacy program. After the program, a follow-up literacy assessment was conducted, and Mario was interviewed about his perceptions of and practices with literacy. The findings of this case study demonstrate the possibility that…