This five-month qualitative study explored the fluctuating participation and constructions of self of two African-American boys across a variety of literacy events in a third-grade classroom. The boys' experiences prior to their arrival in the classroom afforded them particular kinds of capital but not necessarily the capital privileged in…

This National Reading Conference Policy Brief provides information related to high stakes reading tests and reading assessment. High stakes reading tests are those with highly consequential outcomes for students, teachers, and schools. These outcomes may include student promotion or retention, student placement in reading groups, school funding…

This study examined the effects of a multifaceted, metacognitive vocabulary intervention on the reading comprehension and vocabulary achievement of fifth-grade children in one of California's lowest performing Title I schools. Instruction was comprehensive, designed to facilitate encoding of student-selected words, mastery of clarifying…

This qualitative study used theories of language and learning to explore the identities of one preservice teacher in a reading specialization program. Data sources included archived online course responses, interviews, journals, and an electronic portfolio. Analysis indicates that the participant used multiple discourses as an immigrant,…

This study examined elementary students' perceptions of high-stakes testing through the use of drawings and writings. On the day after students completed their high-stakes tests in the spring, 225 students were asked to "draw a picture about your recent testing experience." The same students then responded in writing to the prompt "tell me about…

Newspaper headlines from across the United States reflect the turmoil in public education today, with some states protesting federal requirements for testing, some states lowering proficiency requirements, other states raising proficiency requirements, and even kindergarten and preschool children facing higher academic expectations. These…

We investigated how SES, grade level, and book reading experiences are related to children's writing self-efficacy as well as to their knowledge of "good writing" and "writing difficulties." The sample included 199 middle-high (HSES) and low (LSES) SES children (63 second graders, 67 fourth graders, and 69 sixth graders). Gender and SES (low and…

Sociocultural theories provide a useful lens for interpreting behaviors as individuals enter contexts requiring social interactions. These theories help us understand that learning is stimulated and nourished by interactions with others, supporting a view that learning is essentially a socially inspired process. This emphasis on the social and…

This qualitative study highlights the interconnectedness of literature, literacy practices, identity, and social positioning within a framework of a common enactment of multicultural education: adding literature by and about people of color to the language arts curriculum. The study provides a window on the meaning-making of six 16-year-old Black…

For all first graders, "high level of functioning" includes both continuing oral language development and new competencies in reading and writing. With young children in their preschool years, conversations can happen easily and frequently with familiar adults. According to one recently-reprinted earlier study, British psychologist Barbara Tizard…

The preschool years ages 3 and 4 are extremely important for social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development. The purpose of this article is to discuss the importance of preschool to heighten awareness and inform administrators, educators, families, and policymakers about the value of preschool and in particular preschool literacy…

This study offers ways to understand how a fifth-grade student and her teacher co-constructed academic and social positions within classroom writing practices and how these positions constrained and enabled literacy learning. Positioning is viewed as central rather than optional to learning. Classroom writing practices enabled the case-study…

Over the past decade, the concept of "community" has been at the center of reform in literacy education. Most literacy educators agree that community-oriented environments are critical for students' literacy learning, yet many have difficulty building these communities in multicultural and multilingual classrooms. In this article we draw upon the…

This paper explores the presence of African American Vernacular English patterns in the reading of one child over a 20-week period. In this paper, I present insights from linguists about African American Vernacular English, list linguistic patterns characteristic of African American Vernacular English speakers, examine the relationship between the…

We present the cases of two families from the same middle-class community and conclude that home and school are more connected for some students and families than for others, even in the middle class where seamlessness is assumed. Home and school are more closely aligned for middle-class European-American students who read at home, engage in…