January 2013 • Volume 44 • Number 3

The Common Core in the Middle Grades

Articles in this issue focus on strategies for addressing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in the middle grades and issues associated with their implementation. Morgan and associates share guided reading strategies that can help address CCSS for literacy in different content areas. Curry, Belser, and Binns describe a program for promoting college and career exploration in the middle grades. Gilles and associates recommend a professional development strategy that can help teachers in all subject areas become more effective teachers of reading. Pytash and Morgan offer a unit of study framework for teaching the writing standards associated with the CCSS. Beane offers a critique of the CCSS and argues for democracy as the organizing "core" for the middle grades curriculum. In a guest editorial, Dickey suggests that the CCSS for mathematics may result in higher levels of learning and more valid and useful standardized tests. In the final article, Knox and Anfara review research related to educator job satisfaction.

Member Access articles are available for purchase.

A View from the Middle
David C. Virtue
In Search of Middle Level Curriculum Leadership

A Common Core of a Different Sort: Putting Democracy at the Center of the Curriculum
James A. Beane
The values and skills associated with life in a democratic society should constitute the core of the curriculum.

Guiding Readers in the Middle Grades
Denise N. Morgan, Jeffrey L. Williams, Barbara Clark, Scott Hatteberg, Gayle Marek Hauptman, Claudia Kozel, & Joe Paris
Teachers can use guided reading strategies to help students achieve CCSS for literacy.

Integrating Postsecondary College and Career Options in the Middle Level Curriculum
Jennifer R. Curry, Christopher T. Belser, & Ian C. Binns
Middle level educators must find ways to integrate postsecondary education and career exploration throughout the curriculum.

"I'm No Longer Just Teaching History." Professional Development for Teaching Common Core State Standards for Literacy in Social Studies
Carol Gilles, Yang Wang, Joanne Smith, & Danielle Johnson
By identifying the reading strategies they regularly use within their disciplines, content area teachers are better able to teach students how to derive meaning from texts.

A Unit of Study Approach for Teaching Common Core State Standards for Writing
Kristine E. Pytash & Denise N. Morgan
A unit of study can provide a framework that fosters student engagement with writing tasks.

RAFTing with Raptors: Connecting Science, English Language Arts, and the Common Core State Standards 
Gary J. Senn, Deborah H. McMurtrie, & Bridget K. Coleman
RAFT writing assignments can help students learn content while developing writing and thinking skills.

Departments

Guest Editorial
Common Core State Standards for Mathematics: Dream Come True or Nightmare to Come?
Ed Dickey

What Research Says
Understanding Job Satisfaction and Its Relationship to Student Academic Performance
Jeffrey A. Knox & Vincent A. Anfara, Jr.

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