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In many U.S. states, legislation seeks to define effective instruction for beginning readers, creating an urgent need to turn to scholars who are knowledgeable about ongoing reading research. This mixed-methods study considers the extent to which recognized literacy experts agreed with recommendations about instruction that were included on a state's reading initiative website. Our purpose was to guide implementation and inform policy-makers. In alignment with the initiative, experts agreed reading aloud, comprehension, vocabulary, fluency, phonological awareness, and phonics all deserve a place in early literacy instruction. Additionally, they agreed some components not included on the website warranted attention, such as motivation, oral language, reading volume, writing, and needs-based instruction. Further, experts cautioned against extremes in describing aspects of early reading instruction. Findings suggest that experts' knowledge of the vast body of ongoing research about reading can be a helpful guide to policy formation and implementation.

Many competing voices are speaking about the state of American education and how it should be reformed in the best interest of students. Topics such as teachers unions, charter schools, and standardized tests are at the center of many of these discussions. How do we decipher what to believe amid such conflicting perspectives concerning these topics and others like them? To progress American education in a direction that benefits students and democratic society, today's educational stakeholders must adopt a critical stance in their evaluation of issues at the center of American education; lessons that encourage the development of critical media literacy skills are vital to this effort. This article explains how using détournement in the classroom contributes to this goal, providing a historical background of détournement, exploring a détournement created by the authors, and sharing practical applications for teachers. Practical considerations are drawn from the authors' experiences implementing détournement in the context of a master's level Disciplinary Literacies course for preservice teachers. The détournement creation process in this context provided an opportunity for preservice teachers to cultivate skills in digital video composition as both critical media consumers and critical media producers. Resources and practical applications shared within the article can guide teachers in implementing détournement in the classroom to help students adopt a critical stance toward the media they regularly consume.

Virtual schooling in America is a complex notion, one riddled with simultaneous claims of provenance coupled with poor achievement results when compared to other forms of schooling. Recruitment practices for virtual schools, specifically available television-length advertisements from a national list of fully online schools, comprised a data set around which this study revolved. We examined how virtual school television-length advertisements represented or misrepresented their approach to schooling by utilizing a cultural studies technique of performing preferred, negotiated, and oppositional readings. Qualitative analysis--including an independent interrater process--led to findings that often directly contradicted the messages present in the television-length advertisements, as well as currently available research on the performance and practices of virtual schools. Thus, virtual schools should consider the manner in which race, student performance, and teacher quality are portrayed in the teaching, learning, and collaboration of their television-length advertisement recruitment efforts.

When schools in Arkansas and most of the country shut their physical doors and moved to remote instruction in March 2020, Rachel Evans, Christian Goering, and Seth French planned to engage in a multifaceted experience that bridged personal narrative writing, songwriting, and podcasting. Undaunted by the shutdown, they offered Evans' ninth-grade students the opportunity to engage asynchronously in what Evans named The Podcast of Our Lives, a project with three distinct goals: (1) use music to connect to their lived experiences; (2) build from that music as a springboard to write a new original song; and (3) develop a reflective podcast about the songwriting and overall process. Given the traumatic impact of COVID-19 on the well-being of students and teachers across the country, there is an urgent need to design and implement lessons that center student emotions, feelings, thoughts, and voices. Evans' students shifted ideas from one form to another, creating a multimodal podcast while revealing their deep emotions as humans in the middle of a global pandemic. Evans, Goering, and French present the article with the end in mind, providing an example podcast, three stages they used with students, and their reflections and ideas for next steps.