Scanlan, P., Zarling, D., Champeau, K., Schumann, S. & the NCLB Task Force (2006).
No Child Left Behind: A call to action. WSRA Journal, 46 (2), 4-9.
This article provides an overview of NCLB, its requirements, and the implications of the law for Wisconsin schools, teachers, and students; the article is a “must-read” for every teacher and citizen in Wisconsin.

Afflerbach, P. (2006).
National Reading Conference Policy Brief: High stakes testing and reading assessment. WSRA Journal, 46 (2), 10-16.
Dr. Afflerbach describes the many facets of high stakes assessment portion of NCLB in this policy statement from the National Reading Conference. The topic becomes easy to understand after reading this policy brief; every teacher and citizen should read this article.

Assessment in Reading: WSRA Position Statement. This position statement makes WSRA’s position about testing quite clear. It makes a very good addendum to Dr. Afflerbach’s article.

Allington, R.L. (2006).
Reading specialists, reading teachers, reading coaches: A question of credentials. WSRA Journal, 46 (2), 18-20.
Dr. Allington questions why states are not requiring that reading coaches have advanced education in reading. As states increasingly rely on reading/literacy coaches, Allington’s article presents a case for the states requiring that those holding the literacy coach position have the appropriate credentials to do the job.

Tompkins, F. (2006).
UW System response: NCLB reauthorization—Highly qualifiedreading teachers. WSRA Journal, 46 (2), 21-24.
In this article, Dr. Tompkins articulates the UW System education deans’ position regarding the highly qualified teacher (HQT) requirement of NCLB. This article makes it very clear that the UW System teacher education programs have a history of providing HQT instructors for all of Wisconsin’s schools; there is no reason to think that this historical fact has changed.

Antrop-Gonzalez, R. & Resto, M. (2006).
Confident conceptualization to complex reality in club raices. WSRA Journal, 46 (2), 26-30.
Dr. Antrop-Gonzalez and Ms. Resto describe a program for Latino/Latina high school students that used Puerto Rican literature to improve the literacy skills of these students. Lessons learned are presented; there are implications for today’s classroom high school English/language arts teachers,

Steiner, J.N. & Stinnett, M. (2006).
Democratic literacy practices: Learning from New Zealand. WSRA Journal, 46 (2), 31-35.
New Zealand has long been touted as having one of the highest literacy rates in the world. In this article, Drs. Steiner and Stinnett describe literacy programs and offer hypotheses for the high literacy success rate in New Zealand.

Insley, C.T. & Carlson, J.L. (2006).
Recreational reading in middle school. WSRA Journal, 46 (2), 36-42.
In this article, Ms. Insley and Dr. Carlson describe a study they conducted to determine what middle school students were reading and why. In the course of describing their study, the authors state why recreational reading is important in middle schools and describe the books chosen by the middle school students they studied. This is a perfect article for classroom teachers to read when considering books for their classroom libraries.

Collins, L.L. (2006).
A match made in heaven. WSRA Journal, 46 (2), 43-45.
Ms. Collins discusses the pairing of music and early reading. She describes why music can help early childhood reading teachers present lessons to children and gives information about songs and sources to help teachers pair music with early reading.

Erickson, K. (2006).
How 9 th and 10 th graders read: An intimate look at strategy reading with six biology students. WSRA Journal, 46 (2), 46-49.
Strategies used by six 9 th and 10 th graders to read their biology textbooks were discovered by Ms. Erickson, who used verbal protocols to determine the strategies that were used. There are implications for content area teachers in this article, who will learn strategies that they can teach or reinforce in their classrooms.

Johnson-Goldberg, M.C. (2006).
Reading comprehension: From strategy theories to instructive technologies. WSRA Journal, 46 (2), 50-53.
Dr. Johnson-Goldberg gives classroom teachers information about strategies using technology to help students comprehend their reading. There are many sources cited by the author, which will help classroom teachers searching for resources to teach comprehension strategies to students.

Grace, W.L. (2006).
Reflections from a local council president. WSRA Journal, 46 (2), 55-57.
Ms. Grace discusses what prompted her to become a local council president, what she has gained from the experience, and presents reasons why others should consider doing the same thing. Those readers who have contemplated local council leadership roles will find food for thought in this article.

Carter, A.R. (2006).
The mythical 100-page book. WSRA Journal, 46 (2), 58-60.
In this article, Mr. Carter describes why books cannot total 100 pages. Readers will gain knowledge of the printing business.

Hilke, E. (2006).
Respected children’s literature awards have a new addition. WSRA Journal (2), 63-67.
As we enjoy the summer, Dr. Hilke’s article gives us information about books we can read to stock our classroom libraries in the fall. The books in this article are all of the best quality and will be terrific additions to classroom libraries.

Mathews, J. (2006).
Mysteries of testing solved. WSRA Journal, 46 (2), 68-69.
This article, which first appeared in the Washington Post, reviews Dr. Gerald Bracey’s newest book, Reading Educational Research: How to Avoid Getting Statistically Snookered. Readers of this article will want to digest this review and plan on reading the book prior to the July 20 WSRA Summer Leadership Institute, featuring Dr. Bracey.