Schooling, which is shared to the extent that Americans share no other cultural or institutional experience, is perhaps the single greatest influence on how people understand the world around them and their places in it. English instruction, required as it is throughout formal schooling, constitutes perhaps the most powerful vehicle for shaping…

Discusses the activities and accomplishments of the Canadian Council of Teachers of English (CCTE), especially with regard to its Teacher Education Commission's "Statement on the Preparation of Teachers of English and the Language Arts." (MS)

Describes the Colorado Writing Assessment Program, a testing program that provides two kinds of feedback to teachers and students: (1) a holistic score that measures the general quality of writing and (2) a set of scores on analytic scales that reflect students' achievement in four areas. Concludes that the program works. (FL)

Describes the twelfth annual conference of the Canadian Council of Teachers of English, held in May 1979 at Carleton University, Ottawa, and reflects on directions that emerged during the conference and on implications of the discussions for teachers of English. (GT)

Describes the Colorado Writing Project, a teacher-consultant inservice training program, and presents the results of holistic scoring of papers by students whose teachers had attended inservice meetings conducted by the teacher-consultants. (HTH)

Describes the West Virginia Writing Project, a long-term inservice training project based on team teaching, on-site consultants, and teacher input. (HTH)

Relates how the Standing Committee on Teacher Preparation and Certification of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) came together and worked together to develop guidelines on English and language arts teacher education which will stand from 1996-2006. Discusses getting from drafts to a published document. (PA)

Explores--through a close analysis of one innovative class project--the questions of text, power, and technology implied in a shift to a broader definition of text in the English classroom. Poses the intersection of technology and media literacy as a crucial site for new understandings of the texts at stake in twenty-first century literacies and…

Describes the principal features of Great Britain's National Curriculum for English. Examines British educators' responses to this national curriculum mandate, paying particular attention to their criticisms, thus illuminating work in the United States in curriculum development and uncovering some of the problems in an approach that features…

Describes the work of the Clothesline Project, which both commemorates and bears witness to victims and survivors of violence against women. Explores the social implications of the notion that curriculum must enable students in schools to explore the themes and most difficult problems of their lives. (SR)

Discusses a framework of learning outcomes on language development (produced by the State Education Department in New York) consisting of a list of language outcomes with brief definitions and a continuum of performance with detailed criteria at several points on that continuum. Describes the continuum, particular language outcomes included, and…

Unpacks some of the problematic features of "objectives" as they are used within public school districts. Weaves together what has been learned from working directly with teachers with the historical origins of the professional practice of writing curriculum objectives. Discusses a language arts committee that was unable to produce a finished list…

Demonstrates the centrality of the anecdote in productive teacher talk. Argues for its wider recognition in educational research that has as its aim better teaching and learning. (RS)

Describes a summer institute designed to connect those self-identified "word wizards" and "number crunchers"--those teachers who might name themselves as either more comfortable with written literacy or with numeracy. Concludes that teachers need professional development that provides the opportunity to team with others (different disciplines,…

Teachers are likely to create authentic learning environments for their students only if such contexts exist for them. However, it is more important than ever to look closely at professional development spaces that have been sustained over time in order to bolster teachers' agency, giving them the courage to teach against the grain. In this…