Many educators recommend reading aloud to students, but little is known about the nature of teacher read‐aloud practices beyond elementary school. This article describes a survey of 141 middle school teachers in one U.S. school district. Eighty‐six percent of the teachers reported reading aloud to their students; however, teachers defined reading aloud in a variety of ways, including reading announcements and instructions. Many of the reasons teachers gave for reading aloud (e.g., modeling, making texts accessible, supporting comprehension, reinforcing content) were supported by research. The preponderance of reasons indicated an emphasis on efferent purposes for reading, which emphasize learning information from text. Teachers most often read aloud chapter books and textbooks; few mentioned nonfiction books, picture books, newspapers, or magazines. The most common reason teachers gave for not reading aloud was that it was inappropriate for their subject area, and several indicated that they never thought about reading aloud. The authors suggest an increased emphasis on helping teachers become aware of the multiple benefits and purposes of reading aloud and offer practical suggestions for finding texts and implementing read‐alouds in all subject areas.

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Drawing from recent scholarship that examines schooling and the shifting terrain of youth identities, this study examines the identity constructions of Jessica, a Latina high school student. Our portrait of Jessica is part of a larger longitudinal study in which the middle and high school experiences of three Latinas, including Jessica, were examined. For this paper, we used data gathered from Jessica's four years in high school, which included interviews from Jessica and her mother, and field observations from shadowing Jessica's school days during her junior and senior years. Data analysis illustrated two broad themes: Jessica's relationships with her academics and her social life, including the recent positioning of herself as a mother during her pregnancy in her senior year. Findings suggest that Jessica improvised her positions within various realms of school to both resist and reconfigure discourses that shaped her identities as a student and adolescent. This study argues for more research that examines and explores what youth have to say about their school experiences in order to illustrate the complex ways in which adolescents author themselves in school.

Teacher educators share their experiences in response to the adoption of a high-stakes policy in Georgia regarding the use of edTPA®. Their efforts followed an organic model characterized by the inclusion of three important concepts: (1) distributed leadership, (2) ongoing communication, and (3) a commitment to the evolution of responsibilities and support structures. Stories highlight the importance of collegiality, shared decision making, and clear and open communication within the institution to ensure the success of a policy imperative at the grass-roots level. Since the policy of edTPA for licensure in Georgia carried high stakes for teacher educators and teacher candidates alike, the transition period allowed faculty to engage in conversations and practices that paid attention to the policy imperative, simultaneously allowing them time to consider how to conserve the values and cultural assets of the institution.

In this article, Fairbanks, Crooks, and Ariail followed Esmé Martinez, a Spanish-speaking Latina, from the sixth grade to the eleventh grade, focusing on her perspectives of schooling and her shifting identities related to home, school, friendships, and future. Drawing on the construct of artifacts, a sociohistorical concept that understands skills, practices, and the means of putting them to use in social spaces, they detail Esmé's school history, the ways she was positioned there, and the resources she used to respond and reposition herself. This examination offers a long-term profile of the complex interactions that school entails and a nuanced reflection on agency within institutional constraints.