This annotated bibliography is reformatted and customized by the Center for Positive Practices. Some of the authors featured on this page include Jacy Ippolito, Karyn N. Silverman, Rachel Wilson, Katie O'Hara, Sarabeth Berk, Jeong-Hee Kim, Laura B. Smolkin, Mary Ruth Coleman, Ashley Melissa Cromwell, and Jeff Gelfer.
(2016). Research Commentary: Educational Technology–An Equity Challenge to the Common Core, Journal for Research in Mathematics Education. The implementation of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010) has the potential to move forward key features of standards-based reforms in mathematics that have been promoted in the United States for more than 2 decades (e.g., National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 1989, 2000; National Science Foundation, 1996). We believe that this is an especially opportune time to purposely focus on improving the mathematics education of students who have historically been denied access to a high-quality and rigorous mathematics education in the United States, specifically low-income students and students of color (e.g., Kitchen, DePree, Celedón-Pattichis, & Brinkerhoff, 2007; Leonard & Martin, 2013). We discuss a challenge to realizing standards-based reforms in mathematics in the United States: computer-based interventions in mathematics classrooms. [More] Descriptors: Educational Technology, Common Core State Standards, Mathematics Education, Intervention
(2016). Teaching for Social Justice and the Common Core: Justice-Oriented Curriculum for Language Arts and Literacy, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. In this article, Dover draws from a multistate, qualitative study of 24 justice-oriented secondary English language arts teachers to illustrate how justice-oriented curriculum can be used to address the emphases of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy. In addition to referencing a comprehensive array of social justice topics (e.g., literary, historical, and contemporary examples of racism, sexism, religious oppression, classism, and social action), participants' curriculum addressed all of the College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language. The findings underscore the potential of justice-oriented teaching as a strategy for addressing the critical and higher order thinking skills prioritized in the Common Core. This article concludes with implications for literacy teachers and teacher educators. [More] Descriptors: Social Justice, Common Core State Standards, Literacy, Language Arts
(2016). Stalk It up to Integrated Learning: Using Foods We Eat and Informational Texts to Learn About Plant Parts and Their Functions, Science and Children. The diet of many students consists of on-the-go processed food. As part of a larger school garden project, the authors wanted students to consider the relevance of plants in their own lives, both as food sources for us and for the animals that we eat. In this article, they present a mini-unit they taught in a third-grade classroom that helped students connect their developing ideas about plant parts with the plants we eat. This series of lessons was designed to integrate the use of informational texts into an inquiry-based science unit to meet both the "Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts" and the "Next Generation Science Standards" ("NGSS"). [More] Descriptors: Plants (Botany), Units of Study, Grade 3, Elementary School Science
(2016). "Better to Be a Pessimist": A Narrative Inquiry into Mathematics Teachers' Experience of the Transition to the Common Core, Journal of Educational Research. The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are a focus of state education policy today influencing curriculum implementation and assessment in public schools. The purpose of this narrative inquiry is to understand how high school mathematics teachers experience the transition period. Based on interviews with mathematics teachers in a high school in the Midwest, we aim at bringing teachers' voices to the forefront. Through teachers' stories, we find that: a) Teachers live in the different zones of enactment; and b) Teachers' ecological view of agency should be used as a link to a transition to the CCSS for creating a genuine dialogue. This article is significant in two ways. First, it informs the administrators and policy makers of how there will be inconsistencies across states, districts, schools and classrooms in the implementation and assessment, and second, it helps to explain the need for new professional development approaches. [More] Descriptors: Mathematics Teachers, Mathematics Instruction, Common Core State Standards, High School Students
(2016). Career Readiness: An Analysis of Text Complexity for Occupational Reading Materials, Journal of Educational Research. The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the broader college and career readiness agenda encourage educators, researchers, and other stakeholders to focus on preparing students for life after high school. A key emphasis is literacy, as the ability to read and comprehend written language is critical to success in college and careers. Understanding the level of reading comprehension needed for college and careers has important instructional implications. This study examined text complexity levels of various career texts using the Reading Maturity Metric and compared them to expectations in the CCSS. Text samples were selected for jobs from the five job zones in the Occupational Information Network database. Text complexity demands for all careers were generally in the CCSS range of college and career readiness and increased as job zone and required preparation increased. Results could provide specific career-related targets to make the CCSS reading requirements more relevant for students. [More] Descriptors: Career Readiness, Reading Materials, Difficulty Level, Measures (Individuals)
(2016). Curriculum Matters: The Common Core, Authors of Color, and Inclusion for Inclusion's Sake, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. In this article, the author employs a critical analysis of a short story with cross-cultural themes to illustrate how it is framed in a widely used textbook aligned with the Common Core State Standards. The author shows how the inclusion of literature by authors of color in any curriculum does not necessitate that the needs of racially, culturally, and ethnically diverse student populations are being met in meaningful ways. The author concludes this article with implications and suggestions for instructional practice which center on identifying the counter-stories that might be hidden beneath a diluted treatment of important contributions to children's literacy engagements made by authors of color. In short, the author argues that how students and teachers are served by corporatized recommendations for literacy engagement is an issue worthy of sustained and critical attention. [More] Descriptors: Common Core State Standards, Minority Groups, Authors, Textbooks
(2016). Layering Intermediate and Disciplinary Literacy Work: Lessons Learned from a Secondary Social Studies Teacher Team, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. Secondary teachers nationwide are encouraged by the Common Core State Standards and recent research to enact disciplinary literacy instruction. However, little is known about how teachers make sense of teaching disciplinary literacy skills to adolescents. To what extent might adolescents still need the kinds of foundational support provided by what Shanahan and Shanahan called intermediate strategy instruction, or instruction in general reading comprehension strategies? In this article, the authors describe findings from a disciplinary literacy project in which a group of high school social studies teachers (and the authors) discovered that a complex layering of intermediate and disciplinary literacy work was required to meet students' needs. Implications for teams of teachers wishing to explore this tension and keep their focus on helping students access and communicate content material are shared. [More] Descriptors: Secondary School Teachers, Social Studies, Common Core State Standards, Content Area Reading
(2016). To Build a Better Question, Knowledge Quest. The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Standards for the 21st-Century Learner mandate that students are equipped with the skills they need to pursue lifelong learning. The Common Core State Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and C3 Framework for Social Studies Standards all advocate for genuine student inquiry, and the best thinkers in education are demanding that students take a more active role in their education to make them competitive in the global economy. One practice that can prepare students for a lifetime of engaged learning is asking questions. In this article, the authors discuss what makes questioning a literacy, how questioning and critical thinking are related, and how questioning is fostered in students. Descriptors: Librarians, Library Associations, School Libraries, Standards
(2016). Reading the Big Picture: A Visual Literacy Curriculum for Today, Knowledge Quest. In schools around the country, students are increasingly asked to create visual representations of ideas and information. Slideshows, infographics, and websites have become nearly as common as text documents. Years are spent teaching students grammar and paragraph construction so that they can become strong written communicators, but rarely is the same attention spent on the elements of visual communication. Teens regularly share images on Snapchat, Instagram, and Tumblr and use emojis and GIFs to communicate with each other. They are interacting with visuals every day; the goal in teaching visual literacy is to teach young people to think critically about the design that is all around them. AASL's learning standards and the Common Core State Standards point repeatedly to the need for clear, effective communication. In school and at play, students need communication skills that move beyond text. Learning to use design for communication gives students practical, necessary tools for success. [More] Descriptors: Visual Literacy, Adolescents, Social Media, Critical Thinking
(2016). The Importance of Reading in Earnest: Non-Fiction for Young Children, Gifted Child Today. Until recently, reading instruction for early grades has focused on fiction. However, the Common Core State Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards both emphasize the reading of nonfiction texts to gain specific skill sets for analyzing information. Research has shown that gifted students and children with culturally/linguistically diverse backgrounds may find nonfiction texts more engaging to their interests than fiction. Nonfiction can activate prior learning and encourage students to learn to categorize and synthesize information, especially when combined with scientific inquiry. In this article, the authors explore the new standards-based emphasis on reading nonfiction, the skills built by students' reading nonfiction with a focus on gifted students from culturally/linguistically different and economically disadvantaged families, and we share one approach to including nonfiction in elementary classrooms through the "U-STARS~PLUS Science & Nonfiction Connections," a program for recognizing and supporting underrepresented gifted populations. [More] Descriptors: Young Children, Nonfiction, Gifted, Minority Group Students
(2016). The Unrelenting Search for a Quick Fix, Literacy Research and Instruction. Cassidy, Ortlieb, and Grote-Garcia (2016) have penned an important and insightful article. This reflection on the impact of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS; National Governors Association [NGA] Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers [CCSSO], 2010) through the lens of "What's Hot, What's Not" for two decades is both accurate and frustrating. Just when research was revealing promising practices for struggling readers, the CCSS emerged and is now dominating the conversation. While perhaps national standards were necessary, the perfect storm of insanity that resulted is not. The author has been in the profession a long time, and in the years before the CCSS, saw the development of effective interventions for most vulnerable readers. In this article, the author shares views and reflections on "What's Hot, What's Not" over the years. [More] Descriptors: Common Core State Standards, Educational Practices, Educational Policy, Educational Opportunities
(2016). Utilizing Discourse in the Development of Strategic Readers in the Content Areas, Intervention in School and Clinic. The impetus behind the design and implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) was to establish nationwide criteria in preparing students to be college or career ready by the end of high school. The standards require students to comprehend, analyze, and evaluate text across a wide range of disciplines. Essential to the mastery of the standards, students must have a deep understanding of the larger bodies of language, or the academic discourse related to the academic discipline. This article examines the role of discourse within the development of academic language in the content areas and provides educators with a content area discourse analysis tool to identify high-priority areas for explicit discourse instruction for learners with exceptional language needs. [More] Descriptors: Content Area Reading, Special Needs Students, Academic Discourse, Discourse Analysis
(2016). Structurally Sound Statistics Instruction, Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School. The Common Core's Standards for Mathematical Practice (SMP) call for all K-grade 12 students to develop expertise in the processes and proficiencies of doing mathematics. However, the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) (CCSSI 2010) as a whole addresses students' learning of not only mathematics but also statistics. This situation raises an important question: How might teaching with the SMP be different when implementing statistics content standards compared with mathematics content standards? This article presents key points that arose as the authors explored this question for SMP 7, "Look for and make use of structure," when designing a professional learning experience about the SMP for middle-grades mathematics teachers. In this article, the authors describe differences between structure in mathematics and statistics; then they compare two pairs of tasks (one mathematical and one statistical) as a way to foster teachers' ideas about structure and teaching SMP 7. [More] Descriptors: Mathematics Instruction, Statistics, Common Core State Standards, Instructional Design
(2016). The Histories and Mysteries of Grammar Instruction: Supporting Elementary Teachers in the Time of the Common Core, Reading Teacher. The reemergence of grammar instruction in the Common Core State Standards has likely left teachers confused. On the one hand, they have been told repeatedly that grammar instruction does not improve student outcomes, and can, in fact, be "harmful" to students. However, on the other hand, many Anglophone countries, including the United States, have re-introduced grammar instruction as an important component of the English language arts curriculum. The purpose of this paper is to clarify some of the controversies around grammar instruction by beginning with a brief historical review. Following, we offer teachers various pedagogical suggestions to enable them to address grammar in an engaging, meaningful fashion, as opposed to the isolated, decontexualized activities that have traditionally plagued grammar instruction. [More] Descriptors: Reading Instruction, Grammar, Common Core State Standards, Teaching Methods
(2016). Modelling and Bibliotherapy as Tools to Enhance Pro-Social Interactions during English Language Arts Lessons with First Graders, Early Child Development and Care. Play is one of the essential components in proper development of first-grade students. Since the adoption by various states of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), two outcomes have developed: (a) increased instructional time and (b) decreased public school recess periods across school districts. Given the complex nature of daily instructional practices and the lack of opportunity to engage in play (i.e. which in turn decrease the chances for first graders to interact and improve their pro-social skills), classroom teachers need to begin to model and incorporate bibliotherapy as a means to enhance pro-social interactions during daily language art lessons. The purpose of this article is to introduce first-grade teachers to a four-step guide for incorporating bibliotherapy with the "Key Ideas and Details" strand of the CCSS on reading informational text while teaching the needed pro-social skills for first-grade students. [More] Descriptors: Modeling (Psychology), Bibliotherapy, Prosocial Behavior, Elementary School Students