In this article, we explore how the reading and writing of poetry can be a form of critical hope within secondary English teacher education courses, and across our experiences as English teachers. We begin by discussing a particular moment from our secondary English teacher education course, where one of our teacher interns prompted us to respond…

The purpose of this nonexperimental, quantitative study was to determine if there is a significant correlation among teacher-assigned grades (TAG), district checkpoint scores (CP), and student scale-scores on TNReady tests. The focus was on 1,445 seventh and eighth grade students who were enrolled at a middle school in northeast Tennessee during…

Pared down standards, according to ASCD author Mike Schmoker, are the cure to the Common Core. In this provocative article, Schmoker describes how the Common Core literacy standards have largely been a "disaster"--their tangled implementation "an impossible profusion of grade-by-grade minutiae." To "right the ship of…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the ways assemblaging communities work to support, hinder or disrupt literacy pedagogy in one English Language Arts (ELA) classroom. Through an expanded understanding of community based on the concept of assemblage, this paper discusses the ways in which one teacher's critical literacies…

When the number of charter schools in a given area increases, are students who remain in traditional public schools worse off? This is a claim often made by opponents of school choice; gains made by students in charter schools, they say, come at the expense of students left behind. There is scant evidence to support this view in the existing…

Is there a way of reading literature that is specialized for teaching? Research into the teaching of mathematics has identified a specialized form of content knowledge (SCK, Ball, Thames, & Phelps, 2008) that is significantly linked to student learning (Hill, Ball, & Rowan, 2005). Despite the centrality of literature to the teaching of…

Given the growing trend toward using technology to assess student learning, this investigation examined test mode comparability of student achievement scores obtained from paper-pencil and computerized assessments of statewide End-of-Course and End-of-Grade examinations in the subject areas of high school biology and eighth-grade English Language…

Scandinavian countries have a long tradition of widespread public schooling linked to civic education. In the most recent curriculum reforms, concepts from rhetoric appear in various forms in language arts subject curricula from primary to upper-secondary school. In this article, we examine how current Scandinavian curricula reflect rhetoric and…

Culturally responsive instruction scholarship often presents a binary standard that teachers either satisfy or do not, a determination largely based on perceptions of observed practice. Yet, conclusions about teachers' cultural responsiveness are dubious when researchers do not account for teachers' intent. Conceptualizing cultural responsiveness…

The purpose of this article was to explore the differences in opportunity to learn between higher and lower achieving schools. Additionally, the teachers' perception of Opportunity to Learn (OTL) as it relates to students' achievement were investigated. Teachers were surveyed to investigate any difference in their perceptions of opportunity to…

The awareness of the pedagogical challenges faced by specific student groups, while processing their inclusion in the academic and social school procedures, is often limited or non-existent. Such is the case of immigrant students of Chinese origin attending Greek schools. The qualitative study we present focuses on listening to the voices of 54…

This report provides an update on the state of the research on testing accommodations. Previous reports by the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) have covered research published since 1999. In this report, we summarize the research published in 2019. During 2019, 11 research studies were published on the topic of testing accommodations…

Past research suggests that it is common for teachers to draw on multiple instructional materials even when their school or district recommends, requires, or provides them with a specific curriculum. While teachers likely draw on a variety of resources to address changing and diverse student needs, studies show that teacher-selected materials can…

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, school buildings across the United States shut their doors and transitioned students and teachers to remote learning, most often utilizing internet-based technology to provide either asynchronous or synchronous lessons. I was a high school English Language Arts teacher in Stone Valley School District in…

As the content knowledge of the world grows, so do the demands placed upon our educational system. These demands come from a variety of sources--local, state, national, and corporate agencies. Critical to meeting these demands are the knowledge, skills, and practices teachers need to educate today's youth. Researchers in the area of teachers'…