Using race as a factor in admissions policies was contested in "Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin." Although the U.S. Supreme Court firmly held in "Grutter v. Bollinger" that race can be considered among many factors in admitting students, the recent decision in "Fisher" has posed many questions and challenges…

States have responded in a variety of ways to undocumented immigration and its implications for higher education. Some states have allowed undocumented students to seek an affordable college education while others have created barriers. This article highlights the piecemeal legislation that the states have passed in order to respond to the needs…

This article explores a fundamental indicator missing from current assessments of preservice teacher effectiveness, namely the importance of competencies central to professionalism and to impact on student learning. Drawing from her classroom experiences and relevant research, the author makes the case that evaluation of English teacher…

"Educational Leadership" is a term used to describe the work of principals and administrators. The high-stakes testing environment that has been feeding the culture of accountability in our schools has led principals to increasingly turn to a more distributed leadership model that includes their teachers, thereby expanding the concept of…

In the spirit of the Steven Stahl 600 Book Kid Challenge, 90 preservice teachers engaged children in 36 read-aloud sessions for a vocabulary improvement service learning project. This article describes how the preservice teachers used narrative and informational books as a vehicle for rare-word vocabulary exposure for children ages 8-12.

Grounded in the context of the gap in civic participation, action-based civics curricula, and how classroom interactions may affect student development, we present the CIVVICS (Civic Interactions motiVating diVerse Individuals in Classroom Settings) observation tool. CIVVICS's four domains--Lesson Planning and Implementation, Classroom…

In this article the authors peer into current elementary classrooms and college composition courses in 2020 to envision what K-12 and composition curricula can do now to ensure today's students are prepared for those future composition classes. The authors interviewed veteran (20 or more years) K-6 teachers in a small university town and…

Conversational competence is a process, not a state. Ithaca does not exist, only the voyage to Ithaca. Vibrant campuses are a series of productive conversations. At its core, communicative competence in academic settings mirrors a collective search for meaning regarding the purpose and direction of a campus community. Communicative competence…

Hazing in public schools is a significant problem that may result in serious physical or emotional harm to students who are victims. According to experts in the field, each year more than 1,500,000 American students become new hazing victims. Hazing also results in legal challenges for school personnel. The courts consider public schools to be…

This article uses a narrative analysis approach to explore the stories of student teachers' experiences developing a teaching persona during student teaching. In keeping with the narrative format, the researcher presents the participants' stories in a first-person narrative. The participants had similar experiences in the realm of…

Becoming an effective literacy learner requires a bit of slowing down and appreciating the reflective nature of reading and writing. Literature circles support this instructional direction because they provide opportunities for immersing students in discussions that encourage their personal responses. When students feel their personal responses…

With the increased emphasis on standardized testing from state and federal mandates, the need for reading remediation has intensified. Programs directed toward increasing student test scores have been put in place nationwide with mixed results. These initiatives include response to intervention (RTI), direct instruction, and individualized…

Placing teacher identity work (e.g. thinking critically about what it means to be a teacher) late in the curriculum of education programs could contribute to the high attrition rate of secondary English teachers. This article argues for more attention to teacher identity development early in candidate coursework to better prepare them for the…

In this article, the author summarizes the rationale for using science articles in K-16 education and addresses some of its limitations. The author also encourages scientists and college science faculty to contribute contextually relevant articles that might include selected literary techniques to their local or state newspapers.

This article describes similarities and differences between public and private postsecondary two-year colleges and offers suggestions to prospective students on factors to consider when selecting a two-year school. The types of schools are compared in terms of their missions, degrees offered, academic programs, faculty credentials, accreditation,…