Common Core for the Not-So-Common Learner, Grades 6-12

New hope for our students who struggle most

Under the best of circumstances meeting the Common Core can be a challenge. But if you’re a teacher of academically or linguistically diverse students—and who isn’t these days—then that "challenge" may sometimes feel more like a "fantasy." Finally, here are two expert educators who are brave enough, knowledgeable enough, and grounded enough to tackle this issue.

The grades 6-12 follow-up to Dove and Honigsfeld’s best-selling K-5 volume, this outstanding  resource is packed with all the advice, tools, and strategies you need to build struggling learners’ language skills in today’s Common Core climate. Armed with this book, you’ll

• Better understand the 32 ELA anchor standards
• Learn more about the specific skills "uncommon learners" need to master them
• Discover new research-based teaching strategies aligned to each standard
• Maximize the effectiveness of collaboration and co-teaching

Read this book, implement its strategies, and see the benefits for yourself. It may be your best hope for making the standards achievable for all kinds of "uncommon learners": ELLs, students with disabilities, speakers of nonstandard English, and other struggling students.

"Honigsfeld and Dove provide educators with research, insights, tools, and models for helping diverse students meet and exceed Common Core anchor literacy standards across disciplines. This book is a powerful guide for deepening classroom teaching practices and engaging in professional conversations that foster the enduring learning of content, language, and literacy."
--Jeff Zwiers, Researcher,
Stanford University, CA

"Uncommon learners are more common in classrooms than you think. . . .Thankfully, Honigsfeld and Dove show us the way. They pave a path to high expectations that actually shows us how to get there. Filled with examples and ideas, this book will contribute in significant ways to the success that all learners have for decades to come."
--Douglas Fisher, Professor,
San Diego State University, CA

Andrea Honigsfeld, EdD, is a professor in the School of Education at Molloy College, Rockville Centre, New York. Before entering the field of teacher education, she was an English-as-a-foreign-language teacher in Hungary (Grades 5–8 and adult) and an English-as-a-second-language teacher in New York City (Grades K–3 and adult). She also taught Hungarian at New York University. She was the recipient of a doctoral fellowship at St. John’s University, New York, where she conducted research on individualized instruction. She has published extensively on working with multilingual learners and teacher collaboration. She received a Fulbright Award to lecture in Iceland in the fall of 2002. In the past 22 years, she has been presenting at conferences across the United States, China, Denmark, Japan, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates. She coauthored Differentiated Instruction for At-Risk Students (2009) and coedited the five-volume Breaking the Mold of Education series (2010–2013), published by Rowman and Littlefield. She is also the coauthor of Core Instructional Routines: Go-To Structures for Effective Literacy Teaching, K–5 and 6–12 (2014), Growing Language and Literacy (K-8 and 6-12, 2019, 2024 respectively) published by Heinemann. With Maria G. Dove, she coedited Coteaching and Other Collaborative Practices in the EFL/ESL Classroom: Rationale, Research, Reflections, and Recommendations (2012), Co-teaching for English Learners: Evidence-based Practices and Research-informed Outcomes (2020), Portraits of collaboration: Educators working together to support multilingual learners (2022), and coauthored Collaboration and Co-Teaching: Strategies for English Learners (2010), Common Core for the Not-So-Common Learner, Grades K–5: English Language Arts Strategies (2013), Common Core for the Not-So-Common Learner, Grades 6–12: English Language Arts Strategies (2013), Beyond Core Expectations: A Schoolwide Framework for Serving the Not-So-Common Learner (2014), Collaboration and Co-Teaching: A Leader’s Guide (2015), Co-Teaching for English Learners: A Guide to Collaborative Planning, Instruction, Assessment, and Reflection (2018), Collaborating for English Learners: A Foundational Guide to Integrated Practices (2019), and Co-Planning: 5 Essential Practices to Integrate Curriculum and Instruction for English Learners (2022). She is a contributing author of Breaking Down the Wall: Essential Shifts for English Learner Success (2020), From Equity Insights to Action (2021), Digital-Age Teaching for English Learners (2022), Collaboration and Co-teaching for Dual Language Learners: Transforming Programs for Multilingualism and Equity (2023), Breaking Down the Monolingual Wall: Essential Shifts for Multilingual Learners’ Success (2024). Collaboration for Multilingual Learners with Exceptionalities: We Share the Students (2024), Collaborative Assessment for Multilingual Learners and Teachers: Pathways to Partnerships (2025), 9 Dimensions of Scaffolding for Multilingual Learners. Ten of her Corwin books are bestsellers. Maria G. Dove, Ed.D., is a Professor in the School of Education and Human Services at Molloy University, Rockville Centre, New York. She teaches preservice and inservice teachers about the research and best practices for implementing effective instruction for English learners, and she supports doctoral students in the Ed.D. program in Educational Leadership for Diverse Learning Communities. Before entering the field of higher education, she worked for over thirty years as an English-as-a-second-language teacher in public school settings (Grades K–12) and in adult English language programs in the greater New York City area. She frequently provides professional development for educators throughout the United States on the teaching of multilingual learners. She also serves as a mentor for new ESOL teachers as well as an instructional coach for general-education teachers and literacy specialists. With Andrea Honigsfeld, she has coauthored multiple best-selling Corwin books, including Collaboration and Co-Teaching: Strategies for English Learners (2010), Common Core for the Not-So-Common Learner, Grades K–5: English Language Arts Strategies (2013), and Common Core for the Not-So-Common Learner, Grades 6–12: English Language Arts Strategies (2013), Collaboration and Co-Teaching: A Leader’s Guide (2015), Co-Teaching for English Learners: A Guide to Collaborative Planning, Instruction, Assessment, and Reflection (2018). Along with other Corwin top-named authors, she co-authored Breaking Down the Wall: Essential shifts for English learner success (2020). In addition, she co-edited, Coteaching and Other Collaborative Practices in the EFL/ESL Classroom: Rationale, Research, Reflections, and Recommendations (2012) and Co-Teaching for English Learners: Evidence-based practices and research-informed outcomes (2020) published by Information Age. With Audrey Cohan and Andrea Honigsfeld, she coauthored Beyond Core Expectations: A Schoolwide Framework for Serving the Not-So-Common Learner (2014) published by Corwin and Team up, speak up, fire up: Educators, students, and the community working together to support English learners (2020) published by ASCD.