A Concept-Based Curriculum is designed to help students uncover important, transferable understandings about what it means to be a capable reader, writer, speaker, viewer, listener, and thinker. But, too often, a well-designed, conceptual curriculum does not translate into conceptual teaching. "Concept Based Literacy Lessons" helps…

This study provides an in depth look at how middle school English language learners (ELLs) negotiate their identity as readers and writers as they engage in an identity-oriented unit of instruction. Drawing on theories of identity, identity negotiation, and transformative pedagogy, this study contributes to the field by exploring how a teacher can…

In this study, we examine evidence of transfer from reading instruction to students' learning of language arts and historical content as demonstrated by their independent writing and growth in background knowledge. We taught a unit in a sixth-grade language arts classroom in which students learned about design elements of graphic novels (e.g.,…

A popular trend fusing regular and special education, co-teaching aims to combine the content expertise of a general education teacher with a special education teacher's understanding of meeting the needs of a range of learners for the good of all students. Co-teaching also serves as a vehicle for actualizing characteristics of successful schools…

Due to increased demand for reading achievement nationwide, middle school English/Language Arts (ELA) teachers need instructional practices to promote literacy. Student reading practice (SRP) is supported by research as such an instructional reading practice. The purpose of this holistic multiple case study was to explain how and why middle school…

School administrators at a middle school in the northeastern United States lacked understanding regarding reading services and teaching strategies to improve African American middle school (AA MS) males' performance on standardized state reading assessments. English language arts (ELA) teachers' perspectives on and experiences of teaching reading…

This study explores the possibilities for learning content that might accompany the use of an historically accurate graphic novel as part of a language arts instructional unit. During a 6-day unit, 16 sixth grade students engaged in graphic novels in ways that support comprehension, both in the context of a graphic novel text set and a specific…

A data set from an urban Midwestern school district was mined to explore how the technology-based reading enrichment known as Mindplay Virtual Reading Coach (MVRC) affects children's performance on the English Language Arts (ELA) Standards state-wide assessment (N = 6098 students from Grades 3 to 9). ELA data from two times points were available,…

The article examines the results of two quasi-experimental studies of the implementation and impact of the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC), an intervention designed to support secondary teachers' transition to Common Core State Standards in English language arts. The first study examines LDC implementation by eighth-grade social studies and…

The "Pathway to Academic Success Project" trains teachers to improve the reading and writing abilities of English learners (ELs) who have an intermediate level of English proficiency by incorporating cognitive strategies into reading and writing instruction. This What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) intervention report, part of the WWC's…

The "Pathway to Academic Success Project" trains teachers to improve the reading and writing abilities of English learners (ELs) who have an intermediate level of English proficiency by incorporating cognitive strategies into reading and writing instruction. This What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) intervention report, part of the WWC's…

The "Pathway to Academic Success Project" trains teachers to improve the reading and writing abilities of English learners (ELs) who have an intermediate level of English proficiency by incorporating cognitive strategies into reading and writing instruction. The cognitive strategies include goal setting, tapping prior knowledge, asking…

The importance of adolescent literacy is well established, and the topic continues to be of both local and national interest. Practitioners need to know not only which programs and practices appear effective, but which have the scientific evidence to support that claim. To identify effective programs and practices for general education students in…

Using a quantitative ex post facto causal comparative research design, this study analyzed the effects of the Academy of Reading software program on students' reading achievement. Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) reading scale scores of students in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades from 2013-2014 were utilized in this study. The…

This study examines the interaction between the fidelity of implementation of a set of research-based strategies--Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR)--and outcomes for students with mild to moderate disabilities using data from two nonoverlapping studies in middle school language arts and reading classrooms (Study 1) and middle school social…