Notes that there is little discussion of the goals of participating in a media-literacy program. Outlines some groundwork for the identification and potential assessment of outcomes associated with media literacy. Proposes that media literacy can help foster critical thinking and discussion of media-related issues. (PM)

For the past three decades and more, researchers in adolescent literacy have illuminated the challenges and opportunities facing adolescent learning. This article explores the connection between what we know about adolescent literacy and the mandates and initiatives of the No Child Left Behind Act in the United States. It connects what we know…

Many authors suggest that there is a coming crisis in U.S. middle and secondary schools (Moje, Young, Readence, & Moore, 2000). This crisis comes in the form of reading difficulties. While many primary schools have emphasized word recognition and decoding, decoding does not guarantee comprehension. The result is that many students who can read…

This article presents the theoretical underpinnings of critical literacy and related principles. It also provides ideas for creating environments to promote reading from a critical stance, teaching strategies, sample classroom applications, and annotated lists of theme-related texts. When engaging in critical literacy, readers move beyond…

The process of forming a sense of identity is a crucial developmental task for all high school students, but it can be particularly challenging for those students who find themselves at the intersection of ethnically and socially diverse cultures. Literacy activities can serve as a means through which we can learn more about such bicultural…

The complexity of race and its effects on students?and teachers?in and out of school make it so difficult to address that many of us avoid it at all costs. Yet, as troubling as that may be, race is a pervasive and powerful force that organizes culture and society, and we do our students no favors by pretending it doesn't affect our lives,…

Providing students with time to read during school has been questioned by researchers and practitioners. This article reports on the efforts of one school to resuscitate a schoolwide initiative to provide students the opportunity to read. A single comment made by a student led to committee work and significant policy changes. A chronicle of events…

English language learners (ELLs) are the fastest growing group of K-12 students in the United States. Most ELLs spend the entire school day in mainstream classrooms where instruction is in English. It is therefore important for all teachers to have the knowledge and skills needed to facilitate these students' academic language development and…

Reading difficulty is often the result of a host of interacting factors, including cognitive, linguistic, psychological, social, emotional, physical, and educational, but educational factors are at the heart of many instances of low achievement in English learning. This study explores the educational factors that failed Mei, a 14-year-old sixth…

This article is a reflective account of a teacher implementing the comprehension strategy of questioning to encourage genuine conversations with text, instead of the inquisition technique of testing comprehension practiced in many classrooms. Through the structure of a "gradual release of responsibilities," students practice questioning in…

Too often adult literacy programs seem based on the assumption that, if learners work hard on skills for six months, they will have "acquired" literacy, as though it is a set of skills adults can "get" from a tutor (Kazemek, 1985). One study of 20 adult literacy classes in eight U.S. states found basic (not higher level) skills the predominant…

In the past, students with learning disabilities who wished to attend university were unable to meet the entry requirements. With the progress of research in diagnosis, accommodation, and remediation of reading disabilities, many of these students are now able to attend and complete their academic and professional education. Yet in many cases the…

Physical education has been in decline because of the mistaken belief that the body and mind are separate and thus PE does not have much to contribute to mental function (Landers, Maxwell, Butler, & Fagan, 2001). Landers et al. theorized that sports and games present opportunities to develop thinking and reasoning skills because children are…

This article presents the results of qualitative research into how middle school students experience school reading. Students from grades 4 through 8 from four different schools were asked individually to draw and then to talk about specific times of their choice when they were and were not engaged in learning. The combined method of drawing and…

The authors have come to believe, based on several years of collaborative work in an alternative literacy program, that developing the multiple literacies of struggling youth requires a curricular playfulness with students' ideas, biographies, and imaginations across genres and media. Social literacy and multiliteracy theories are powerful and…