This book provides classroom-tested methods for engaging struggling middle grade readers--even those who appear to have given up--and fostering their success. The emphasis is on constructing respectful, encouraging learning environments that incorporate students' diverse literacies, cultural interests, and prior knowledge and skills into instruction. Chapters outline effective, innovative strategies for instruction and assessment in comprehension, vocabulary, text-based discussion, critical reading, and other core areas. Realistic classroom examples are included throughout, including applications of nontraditional texts. Other useful features include reflection questions at the end of each chapter. Winner--Literacy Research Association's Edward B. Fry Book Award

The purpose of this non-experimental, quantitative research study was to examine if a predictive relationship existed between general educators' perceived self-efficacy, attitudes toward inclusion, and the reading achievement of special needs students in an urban school district in the Midwestern United States. A convenience sample of 65 middle school reading teachers participated in the study. The theory of planned behavior, self-efficacy theory, and social cognitive theory provided a theoretical understanding of how inclusion affects the attitude and behaviors of teachers. Attitudes and beliefs affect behavior by determining what a middle school teacher does and does not do, thereby affecting what the student with a disability receives in the classroom. A simple linear regression was used to test the hypotheses according to scores generated from the Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) short form and the Scale of Teachers' Attitude Toward Inclusive Classrooms (STATIC). The results of both simple linear regression analyses determined that neither the TSES nor the STATIC were found to be significant predictors of the change in Ohio Academic Achievement (OAA) reading test scores during the 2012-2013 school years. The results of this study added to the knowledge base of the field by examining the predictive relationship between teacher perceptions of their self-efficacy, attitudes, and regarding inclusion and the reading achievement of special education students that have been included in a general education classroom for reading instruction.

Reading instruction is too often grounded in a narrowly defined "science of reading" that focuses exclusively on cognitive skills and strategies. Yet cognition is just one aspect of reading development. This book guides K–8 educators to understand and address other scientifically supported factors that influence each student's literacy learning, including metacognition, motivation and engagement, social–emotional learning, self-efficacy, and more. Peter Afflerbach uses classroom vignettes to illustrate the broad-based nature of student readers’ growth, and provides concrete suggestions for instruction and assessment. The book's utility is enhanced by end-of-chapter review questions and activities and a reproducible tool, the Healthy Readers Profile, which can be downloaded and printed in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size.

Many middle school students with learning disabilities obtain their education in general education classrooms. These classroom settings are referred to as inclusion classrooms. We must not only consider that the student population is becoming increasingly more diverse, but we must also consider that the educators who teach in these type of classrooms are diverse as well. Teacher qualifications, training, and education that educators receive before and after entering a classroom can be quite varied and really important when considering the work that needs to be done to ensure successful inclusion classrooms. Within an inclusion classroom, success requires a collaborative instructional effort between special educators, general educators, and para-educators. The purpose of this research is to highlight teacher diversity in qualifications and training and identify factors that make teachers feel more or less confident in inclusion classrooms. This research explains key components of teaching - classroom management, instructional strategies, and student engagement - and the similarities and differences found between teachers in inclusion classrooms. This research is very important to all involved in the teaching and learning in inclusion classrooms, to include aspiring teachers, new teachers, experienced teachers, paraprofessionals, educational specialists, professional development and training staff, instructors for teachers, administrators, and policy makers. KEY SEARCH TERMS: administration, alternative teaching, attitudes, attrition, behaviors, bias, Bonferroni's Post Hoc Test, burnout, classroom management, co-teaching models, collaboration, confounding variable, content review, curriculum, disabilities, educational goals, educators, efficacy, Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), general education, Gibson and Dembo Teacher Efficacy Scale, inclusion classroom models, Individual with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA), instructional content, instructional management, instructional model, instructional models, instructional practices, instructional strategies, lack of motivation, lead/support model, learning disabilities, Levene's Test of Equality of Error, models, motivation, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), para-educator, para-professionals, parallel teaching, pre-service, professional development & training, retention, role models, self-efficacy, socialization, special education services, station teaching, stress, student behaviors, student engagement, teacher experience, teacher qualifications, teacher self-efficacy, teacher training, Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES), team teaching model, vicarious experiences, years of experience