Book excerpt: The achievement gap is a language gap—and you can bridge it! As teachers, we take the language of school—academic language—for granted. But for many of our students, academic language is more than a new language. It is the "make or break" skill for school success. This exciting and much-needed book shows how teachers can help students become fluent, confident speakers of academic language. Debbie Zacarian shares a step-by-step, research-based approach to scaffolding K-12 instruction for students who do not have the language and literacy skills that are needed in school. Readers will find Practical teaching strategies based on the four key facets of academic language fluency Richly detailed case studies about students’ experiences with academic language across the content areas Guidance on family involvement Thought-provoking study questions, along with performance assessment tools An ideal resource for school- and district-wide Common Core initiatives, this book provides teachers with the foundation and tools to ensure an equitable education for all students. "This book engages teachers in active reflection on the nature of academic language and how it is used in different content areas across the curriculum. It represents an extremely useful tool for school communities to promote academic learning for all students." —Jim Cummins, Professor OISE/University of Toronto "Mastering Academic Language provides a practical look at the sociocultural foundations of academic language, relevant classroom and student examples, and a helpful framework for organizing and enacting the complex processes of developing language across a variety of contexts." —Jeff Zwiers, Researcher Stanford University, CERAS 527