ABSTRACT
As we move forward in the age of curricular accountability in public schools, teachers find themselves “caught” between the demands for accountability from the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and the needs of their students. Data and standards based curriculum have become the norm as teachers are held more responsible for student achievement results on standardized testing. Academic language instruction is a tool which offers a solution for increasing student achievement in core subject areas. Students who are taught strategies to comprehend and effectively use academic language in core subject areas will score higher on achievement tests and will function better in school and college. All teachers, regardless of content area or the grade level they are teaching, should be aware of the research-based instructional strategies that will assist all students to more effectively comprehend content information.
