As the face of education and the demands on teachers continues to change in the 21st century, so does the role of the literacy coach in schools across the country. This article explores the changing roles and responsibilities of literacy coaches by sharing the results of a study of 270 literacy coaches around the country. In this article, we share…

Close reading is an instructional practice that has gained attention of late. It involves reading a complex text, annotation, and repeatedly reading to answer text-dependent questions. Although there are a number of recommendations for the use of close reading, there has not been a systematic analysis of student or teacher perceptions of this…

In the wake of tepid National Assessment of Educational Progress reading and writing scores, the creation of College and Career Readiness Standards (National Governor's Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers [NGA & CCSSO], 2010; Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, 2008), and studies such…

This collective case study explored what nine elementary teachers' video study group discussions revealed about their understanding of pedagogical content knowledge for an explicit reading strategy instruction framework, Critical Elements of Strategy Instruction (CESI). Qualitative methods were used to inductively and deductively analyze…

The current high-stakes educational context compels many schools and school systems to encourage teachers to use restrictive literacy teaching practices, which are unlikely to meet students' diverse needs. These restrictions typically fall on novice teachers, who enter the field through various preparation routes, because they often work in…

The purpose of this embedded mixed methods study was to examine how sixth graders with high and low reading attitudes perceive teacher read aloud. We utilized quantitative data by surveying sixth graders (N = 87) about their reading attitudes and then collected qualitative data by interviewing five students, interviewing the teacher, conducting…

This qualitative study explored reasons K-6 teachers did or did not engage students regularly in writing. Interviews with 14 teachers, classified as high, transitional, and low implementers of writing instruction, revealed three themes: hindrances and helps, beliefs concerning practice, and preparation and professional development. Both high and…

In the field of elementary reading instruction, educators from varying theoretical perspectives have strived to promote instructional practices that "work" with diverse populations of students, with differing conclusions. In the present study, we examined elementary teachers' attempts at blending reading practices reflecting two philosophical…

This article reports on the use of a text-based verbal protocol (Afflerbach, 2000) situated within individual interviews to elicit secondary English teachers' perspectives on new literacies (Albers & Harste, 2007; Coiro, Knobel, Lankshear, & Leu, 2008). Ranging significantly in their teaching experience and comfort with new media and digital…

The purpose of this survey was to describe how 112 K-6 Utah teachers perceived process writing. Teachers reported valuing all aspects of writing more than using them. In general, they valued responding to student needs, daily writing, and process writing, and reported incorporating them in their classes. Conversely, they did not value commercial…

The purpose of this research study was to examine the usage and perceived benefits of the ERR (Evocation, Realization of Meaning, and Reflection; Meredith & Steele, 2011) instructional framework and content literacy strategies with middle and high school science teachers. Former students who had participated in an undergraduate or graduate content…

Comprehension (or cognitive) strategy instruction has considerable literacy research supporting it as an instructional practice. Additionally, it has become more common in elementary classrooms, in part, because of the popularity of professional advisement books on the topic. This focus on teaching cognitive strategies also occupies center stage…

This study describes the tutoring interactions of four early childhood preservice tutors, two able and two less able, to document the tutoring strategies they applied as they provided support for their first-grade student at point of need. The two more able tutors provided various prompts to foster their students' use of strategies, thus…

The current high-stakes testing environment is compelling many educators to teach reading in programmatic ways. This type of teaching contrasts research on effective literacy instruction. This article describes a Title I elementary school's effort to improve literacy instruction not by adopting a program but rather by providing professional…

Research studies on college reading have been emphasizing the effectiveness of instruction and the correlation of reading performance to college success. Little research has been conducted regarding college developmental readers' preferences for using digital texts to communicate. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether students'…