The purpose of this issue brief is to provide a comprehensive overview of the policies behind the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and to outline some of the initiatives now in place to address the needs of English language learners (ELLs) in relation to the CCSS. This issue brief contains the appendices: (1) Assessment Consortia Time Lines; and…

The use of mobile technology in language learning has increased considerably, with an unprecedented adoption of mobile tablets in K-12 and higher education settings. Despite the number of recent small-scale studies that have found increased student motivation and engagement in learning as a result of using mobile tablets, there is a need to…

This study examined the effects on performance of online access to peer-generated questions during question-generation activities. Two eighth grade classes (N = 63) participated in six weekly question-generation sessions to support English learning. An online student question-generation learning system was adopted. In contrast to expectations…

Three arguments regarding racial equity have arisen in the school choice debate. Choice advocates charge that choice will improve access to quality schools for disadvantaged minority students (Chubb & Moe 1990; Coons & Sugarman, 1978; Godwin & Kemerer, 2002; Viteritti, 1999). Critics argue that choice is unlikely to benefit minority…

This article is based upon a larger study that considered three high school literature units in the US. Through a close analysis of one classroom discussion between a teacher and a provocative 8th grade student named Fish, I argue that it is not only ethically responsible to position the Fishes of this world as laudable, but that doing so is…

This paper examines the comparative private costs of distance and conventional (classroom-based) university students in Nigeria. A total of 200 subjects comprising students registered for the B.Sc. Computer Science and B.A. English Studies programmes at the University of Lagos, Nigeria and the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) were…

Charter schools frequently receive public as well as federal attention, and there is a growing body of research becoming available examining charter schools. With all this research there is still a need for further studies which deal specifically with antecedents of charter school success. This study examined factors contributing toward the…

"Am I a girl?" This question from a long-ago English class (quoted by Kennedy, 1983) illustrates what was once considered suitable practice for language learners. Over the decades, ideas for the content of a language lesson have reflected developing theories of second language learning and teaching. This essay draws on materials,…

This dissertation consists of essays on three inputs into the educational production function: curriculum, peers, and teachers. The chapters are linked by their focus on understanding the importance of these inputs for student achievement and by their exploitation of the exact timing of events (i.e., student mobility, receipt of special education…

Contrary to what has usually been asserted, the "New English" that became a near-orthodoxy in the later 1960s and '70s had its essential origins in the apparently less promising setting of the later 1950s. Current research into English teaching in three postwar London secondary schools is revealing that in at least one working-class…

Elementary school English activation curriculum, an additional two culture classes, has been implemented only in New Taipei City in Taiwan starting from 2010, so only a few studies focus on it. This is a case study of an English teacher's integration of a school's features into the activation curriculum in a rural elementary school. This study…

As states and school districts grapple with how to teach the skills outlined in the new common standards, two foundations have announced a partnership aimed at crafting complete, online curricula for those standards in mathematics and English/language arts that span nearly every year of a child's precollegiate education. The announcement last…

Based on her experiences with the transformation of 8th-grade reading in one school, Ivey advocates for a substantial shift in what students read in English class and what is available to them in school. Middle school classrooms are in dire need of a book makeover, and this should be the first order of business when considering what to do for…

In the fall of 2009, the College Board conducted a curriculum survey to gather information on the curricula and institutional practices of high schools and colleges in the United States. The primary objective of the survey was to collect data on the knowledge and skills, or topics, taught in high school classrooms and assess the importance of…

We are at a particularly difficult historical juncture marked by uncertainty, contingency and change. Zygmunt Bauman characterises the present time as "liquid modernity" (2000, 2008, 2011b) because of the fluidity and instability that we live with. Our identities and our relations to the world are changing radically. There is an urgent need for…