This annotated bibliography is reformatted and customized by the Center for Positive Practices. Some of the authors featured on this page include Joshua Schulze, Jonathan A. Plucker, Toni A. Sondergeld, Laura E. Starr, Derek C. Briggs, Sandra Wilder, Tad Watanabe, Arlette Ingram Willis, Scott Epstein, and Sarah Reber.
(2015). Enhancing Nonfiction Reading Comprehension through Online Book Discussions, Reading Horizons. 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 engagement and motivation. Additionally, this study reaffirmed that offering students choice of texts fostered more autonomous learning habits. Finally as a result of facilitating these online book discussions, graduate students were able to learn and develop more effective strategies and skills for engaging and motivating middle grade student reading. It is hoped that this study will not only assist middle grade school teachers in providing learning strategies for effectively implementing Common Core Standards but also for teacher education students as a result of direct experience in facilitating online book discussion groups. [More] Descriptors: Reading Comprehension, Books, Electronic Publishing, Group Discussion
(2015). Literacy and Race: Access, Equity, and Freedom, Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice. The coupling of literacy and race emphasizes their historic and contemporaneous intersection in literacy research. In this article, I draw on my scholarship and use three counternarratives to articulate how literacy and race significantly influence access, equity, and freedom. First, I examine access within the sociohistoric context of African Americans attending Calhoun Colored School. Second, I explore equity in a review of the sociohistoric context of "Brown v Board" and the "Civil Rights Act" as well as two federal studies of reading research, National Assessment of Educational Progress reading data, and the No Child Left Behind Act. Finally, I investigate freedom by demystifying linkages among the privatization and corporatization of education and reading achievement under Race to the Top's expansion of charter schools, Common Core State Standards, National Council on Teacher Quality, and their funding sources. I conclude with a call to action to courageously pursue a more educationally and socially just literacy research agenda. [More] Descriptors: Literacy, Race, African Americans, Access to Education
(2015). Fraction Interventions for Students Struggling to Learn Mathematics: A Research Synthesis, Remedial and Special Education. This study synthesized intervention studies focusing on instruction to improve fraction skills. Seventeen studies met the inclusion criteria: being published in English-language peer-reviewed journals or dissertations between 1975 and 2014, and targeting 3rd- through 12th-grade students struggling to learn mathematics. From the "Common Core State Standards for Mathematics," addition and subtraction of fractions were most frequently representing the "Standards for Mathematical Content," and modeling for mathematics instruction was most frequently observed to represent the "Standards for Mathematical Practice." Results indicated that interventions consisting of evidence-based instructional components (e.g., concrete and visual representations; explicit, systematic instruction; range and sequence of examples; heuristic strategies; and use of real-world problems) led to improved performance on measures with fraction concepts and skills. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed. [More] Descriptors: Fractions, Intervention, Learning Disabilities, Literature Reviews
(2015). Common Core and America's High-Achieving Students, Thomas B. Fordham Institute. While the merit and politics of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have been much debated and discussed, one topic has been virtually ignored: What do the standards portend for America's high-ability students? This brief addresses that question and provides guidance for CCSS-implementing districts and schools as they seek to help these youngsters to reach their learning potential. Four key points emerge: (1) Common Core is no excuse to ditch gifted services; (2) State and local officials should get rid of policies that hurt gifted students and strengthen those that help them; (3) Schools should work hard to make differentiation "real"; and (4) Schools should make use of existing high-quality materials that help teachers adapt the Common Core for gifted students. [More] Descriptors: Academic Standards, State Standards, Alignment (Education), Gifted
(2015). Generating a Networked Improvement Community to Improve Secondary Mathematics Teacher Preparation: Network Leadership, Organization, and Operation, Journal of Teacher Education. The Mathematics Teacher Education Partnership (MTE-Partnership) was formed to address the undersupply of new secondary mathematics teachers who are well prepared to help their students attain the goals of the Common Core State Standards and other college- and career-ready standards. This national consortium of more than 90 universities and 100 school systems has been organized as a Networked Improvement Community (NIC), which combines the disciplined inquiry of improvement science with the power of networking to accelerate improvement by engaging a broad set of participants. Initiating a NIC involves a number of challenges described in the NIC Initiation Framework. This case study analyzes the MTE-Partnership's progress in one domain of that framework: network leadership, organization, and operation. Areas of discussion include convening the network, establishing a membership framework and participation structures, building leadership and hub functions, developing a communications infrastructure, and finding necessary resources. [More] Descriptors: Partnerships in Education, Preservice Teacher Education, Mathematics Teachers, Secondary Education
(2015). Measuring Sixth-Grade Students' Problem Solving: Validating an Instrument Addressing the Mathematics Common Core, School Science and Mathematics. This article describes the development of a problem-solving instrument intended for classroom use that addresses the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. In this study, 137 students completed the assessment, and their responses were analyzed. Evidence for validity was collected and examined using the current standards for educational and psychological testing. Instrument validation findings regarding internal consistency reliability were high, and multiple forms of validity (i.e., content, response processes, internal structure, relationship to other variables, and consequences of testing) were found to be appropriate. The resulting instrument provides teachers and researchers with a sound tool to gather data about sixth-grade students' problem solving in the Common Core era. [More] Descriptors: Problem Solving, Mathematics Instruction, State Standards, Academic Standards
(2015). Academic Language, English Language Learners, and Systemic Functional Linguistics: Connecting Theory and Practice in Teacher Education, CATESOL Journal. Teacher educators need linguistic tools to help preservice teachers develop a deeper understanding of the academic language demands of the literacy practices required by the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Systemic functional linguistics (SFL) serves as a tool for developing teachers' knowledge of content-area language. Teachers' increased knowledge of language facilitates the construction of language-focused instruction to support the academic literacy development of English language learners. I introduce SFL theory and illustrate how I put the theory into practice to support the literacy development of beginning-level English language learners in a middle school classroom. I include recommendations for teachers and teacher educators regarding how to embed the theory in classroom practice and teacher preparation. [More] Descriptors: Teacher Education, Theory Practice Relationship, Teacher Educators, Linguistic Theory
(2015). Syntactic Complexity as an Aspect of Text Complexity, Educational Researcher. Students' ability to read complex texts is emphasized in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts and Literacy. The standards propose a three-part model for measuring text complexity. Although the model presents a robust means for determining text complexity based on a variety of features inherent to a text as well as considerations outside the text, the grammar used in a text is not an overt component of the model. In this essay, we argue that the grammar of a text–especially, the syntactic complexity of sentences in a text–should be included as an explicit and distinct component in a text complexity model due to the fact that grammar contributes to the meaning of text and grammatical meaning impacts reading comprehension. We summarize findings from linguistics research on academic English to support this argument. [More] Descriptors: Syntax, Discourse Analysis, Grammar, Reading Ability
(2015). Have Intellectual Freedom and Privacy Questions? Help Is on the Way!, Knowledge Quest. School librarians are experiencing upheaval and controversy in education today. They are coping with the implementation of (and battles over) the Common Core State Standards, the uncertain future of their jobs, and the rapidly changing nature of school libraries. Despite the flux and instability in education, the importance of intellectual freedom principles remains constant. Where can school librarians find up-to-date guidance on intellectual freedom and privacy matters? One good source is the September/October 2015 "Knowledge Quest," which will offer practical advice for KQ readers. This article provides a sample list of topics that will be addressed in the intellectual freedom-themed issue. Despite the uncertainties in education today, intellectual freedom is as essential as ever. Students need access to information and privacy if they are to become well-educated adults who can locate and evaluate information, synthesize ideas from many sources, and make wise decisions. [More] Descriptors: School Libraries, Librarians, Intellectual Freedom, Privacy
(2015). Using Learning Progressions to Design Vertical Scales That Support Coherent Inferences about Student Growth, Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research and Perspectives. The concept of growth is at the foundation of the policy and practice around systems of educational accountability. It is also at the foundation of what teachers concern themselves with on a daily basis as they help children learn. Yet there is a disconnect between the criterion-referenced intuitions that parents and teachers have for what it means for students to demonstrate growth and the primarily norm-referenced metrics that are used to infer growth. One way to address this disconnect would be to develop vertically linked score scales that could be used to support both criterion-referenced and norm-referenced interpretations, but this hinges upon having a coherent conceptualization of what it is that is growing from grade to grade. In this paper, a learning-progression approach to the conceptualization of growth and the subsequent design of a vertical score scale is proposed and illustrated in the context of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. [More] Descriptors: Achievement Gains, Scaling, Scores, Inferences
(2015). Classroom Challenge: A 3D Snapshot of Student Learning in Mathematics, Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas. This article aims to describe a type of formative assessment, MAP Classroom Challenge, which has been introduced in mathematics classrooms in recent years. MAP, or the Mathematics Assessment Project Classroom Challenges (formerly known as Formative Assessment Lessons), are developed by teams of math educators from the Shell Centre for Mathematical Education at the University of Nottingham and the University of California, Berkeley, with the support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The overarching goal of Classroom Challenges is to support teachers in administering effective formative assessment by identifying student misconceptions of main mathematical ideas and helping students develop better understanding. The design of Classroom Challenges stems from the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics and it is based on the seamless fusion of the standards for mathematical content and the standards for mathematical practices. Furthermore, this article demonstrates the positive impact one Classroom Challenge had on revealing and subsequently eliminating student misconceptions related to certain fundamental algebraic concepts. [More] Descriptors: Formative Evaluation, Mathematics Instruction, Mathematics Teachers, College Faculty
(2015). When Did It Begin? Catholic and Public School Classroom Commonalities, Journal of Catholic Education. Catholic educational historians note that although preserving Catholic identity has been a constant in the mission of Catholic schools, their curriculum and instructional practices evolved in ways that were similar to public schools, thus enabling Catholic parents to select schools that were both faith based and modern. Since there is an absence of information about when and how this change in Catholic education began, this article documents its origin in the 1940s when Catholic educators joined a public school reform movement called "Life Adjustment Education." Once begun, there was no turning back, and Catholic educators participated in the major reforms of the next two decades, discipline-centered curriculum reform and humanistic education. Two case studies are presented to illustrate what reform-based Catholic schools were like in the 1970s, followed by a brief analysis of Catholic school participation in the contemporary common core state standards movement. [More] Descriptors: Catholics, Educational History, Self Concept, Catholic Schools
(2015). The Implementation and Effects of the Mathematics Design Collaborative (MDC): Early Findings from Kentucky Ninth-Grade Algebra 1 Courses. CRESST Report 845, National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST). With support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, researchers and experts in mathematics education developed the Mathematics Design Collaborative (MDC) as a strategy to support the transition to Common Core State Standards in math. MDC provides short formative assessment lessons known as Classroom Challenges for use in middle and high school math classrooms. UCLA CRESST's study of ninth-grade Algebra 1 classrooms in Kentucky implementing MDC showed strong support from teachers for the intervention and a statistically significant positive impact on student scores on the PLAN Algebra assessment, as compared to similar students statewide in Kentucky. The following are appended: (1) MDC Instruments and Rubrics, (2) MDC Teacher Log Descriptives; (3) MDC Teacher Survey Descriptives; (4) Analysis of MDC Student Work Artifacts; and (5) Quasi-Experimental Analysis of MDC Effects. [More] Descriptors: Grade 9, Algebra, Mathematics Instruction, Secondary School Mathematics
(2015). Using Professional Learning Communities to Bolster Comprehension Instruction, Reading Teacher. High-level comprehension instruction is the focus of the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts. However, it has been a challenge for states to provide the professional development (PD) needed to support teachers' implementation of the CCSS. Professional learning communities (PLC) are a means of providing school-embedded PD to meet these needs. This article provides suggestions for using The Reading Teacher's Research into Practice columns as a springboard for implementing a PLC model of PD. First, the structure of PLC sessions is reviewed. This is followed by a description of the key ideas, suggested readings, and PLC tasks for enhancing comprehension instruction within each of three elementary grade level bands. [More] Descriptors: Reading Comprehension, Reading Instruction, Language Arts, State Standards
(2015). Visual Reasoning Tools in Action: Double Number Lines, Area Models, and Other Diagrams Power Up Students' Ability to Solve and Make Sense of Various Problems, Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School. The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) (CCSSI 2010) identifies the strategic use of appropriate tools as one of the mathematical practices and emphasizes the use of pictures and diagrams as reasoning tools. Starting with the early elementary grades, CCSSM discusses students' solving of problems "by drawing." In later grades, such specific forms of diagrams as number lines, area models, tape diagrams, and double number lines are mentioned. This article illustrates the power of these visual reasoning tools by describing how Japanese sixth and seventh graders used a variety of pictures and diagrams to solve and make sense of problems. The article also discusses potential challenges and opportunities that these visual reasoning tools offer to middle school mathematics teaching and learning. [More] Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Mathematics Education, Secondary School Mathematics, Middle School Students