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Secondary Education

Democracy and Education

Journal

2020

Literacy

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Education

Writing That Counts: Grounding A Critique Of The Common Core English Language Arts Standards In Classroom Memories, Katie Nagrotsky, Anaisbely Franjul Grullon Oct 2020

Writing That Counts: Grounding A Critique Of The Common Core English Language Arts Standards In Classroom Memories, Katie Nagrotsky, Anaisbely Franjul Grullon

Democracy and Education

The authors of this article call upon classroom memories to demonstrate the harm of the standardized testing apparatus in the English Language Arts (ELA) classroom. Goal setting under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) has led to targeted school intervention based on metrics, and many states have chosen to double down on standardized ELA and math test data to determine the quality of a school, student learning, and teacher effectiveness. The authors argue that the assessments associated with the ELA Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are harmful to all students, and particularly students from marginalized communities whose literacies are not …


Supporting Students To Read Complex Texts On Civic Issues: The Role Of Scaffolded Reading Instruction In Democratic Education, Shira Eve Epstein Oct 2020

Supporting Students To Read Complex Texts On Civic Issues: The Role Of Scaffolded Reading Instruction In Democratic Education, Shira Eve Epstein

Democracy and Education

This paper discusses the role of scaffolded reading instruction in democratic education. Focusing on a case study of a high school civic unit on the Syrian civil war and refugee crisis, it argues the importance of such reading instruction. Students noted the challenges they experienced when reading complex texts on the topic. Yet, scaffolded reading activities that helped students interpret and respond to the texts yielded student engagement with disciplinary material and were praised by the students. This paper illustrates the use of such supports and discusses the ramifications of their absence.