Book excerpt: Ensure your school speaks the language of success! With the rigorous content of College and Career Readiness standards, academic language use has moved to the forefront of educational priorities. School leaders and teachers must ensure that academic language becomes the focus of new curricula, instruction, and assessment, with special attention to linguistically and culturally diverse students. The author’s six-book series on academic language is already the definitive resource on the topic. This companion volume provides a concise, thorough overview of the key research concepts and effective practices that underlie the series. Including: Definitions and examples of the dimensions of academic language. A step-by-step template to incorporate academic language use into plans for student learning. Graphic models that illustrate the construct of academic language and its classroom application. Language is the most fundamental building block of education. Be sure your school is as strong as it can be with this indispensable book. "This book brings language learning in the classroom alive! Against a backdrop of new standards, the authors skillfully take the reader through detailed vignettes of classroom practice that support students’ development of academic language, while at the same time discussing why the practice is effective." —Margaret Heritage, Assistant Director for Professional Development National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing (CRESST) at UCLA