This article explores Black liberatory pedagogy (BLP) as a critical approach to navigating current Science of Reading (SoR) mandates, which are often restrictive and fail to honor the literacies and linguistic practices of Black children. Through the narratives of six educators—classroom teachers, teacher candidates, and teacher educators—the article examines how they have experienced and responded to the implementation of SoR standards and curriculum shifts. These stories also illuminate what becomes possible when teachers are in spaces that allow for autonomy, imagination, and culturally responsive pedagogy. The educators’ experiences, expertise, and cultural wisdom are centered, demonstrating how they enact BLP through critical consciousness, cultural relevance, and a commitment to centering children’s humanity. Their narratives underscore the importance of eldering and connect to a long-standing tradition of Black educators who have taught both within and against racist policies and mandates. Gleaning from this tradition is essential as we ask: “What does it mean to teach for freedom—for Black teachers and Black children—within the current Science of Reading movement?” These educators show us that it is possible to teach responsively within constraints, to lead with critical awareness, and that liberatory teaching is vital not only for Black students to thrive, but also for the joy and wellness of Black educators.
A central feature of many Science of Reading (SoR)-aligned curricula is the use of nonsense words in early literacy assessment to measure a student's ability to decode unfamiliar words using knowledge of letter-sound correspondences. However, the research base for using nonsense words as an instructional tool is much weaker and more contested. Through two narratives, we illustrate how the implementation of SoR instruction with nonsense words can be particularly problematic. We argue that effective literacy instruction demands what we call pedagogical clarity, the ability to integrate pedagogical practices with deep understanding of individual learners, their cultural and linguistic resources, and their developmental trajectories.
The widespread implementation of “science of reading” policies across national and local contexts in the past few years is yet another chapter in the reading wars (Preston, 2022; Thomas, 2024; Goldberg & Goldenberg, 2022). This is not the first time that a national panic about literacy has incited fierce debates over how best to teach reading. Since the publication of “Why Johnny Can’t Read” in 1955, the question of “how, when and how much phonics instruction” has been hotly contested among scholars and practitioners (Thomas, 2024; Flesch & Sloan, 1955). However, the current literacy policy landscape--in the wake of the neo-liberal education reform of the late 1990s and early 2000s-- is distinguished by top-down initiatives, increased accountability structures, and the proliferation of commercial curricula, all on a scale that was inconceivable in previous iterations of the reading wars. Notably absent from the current “science of reading” discourse and related policy are student voices and experiences. This article begins to fill the void through a case study of a group of parents and students in a progressive, public school in New York City when a top-down literacy program was introduced on a city-wide scale. It highlights how a particular group of students responded to a prescriptive commercial curriculum mandated in the name of the “science of reading” and explores what students learned about literacy and democracy in the process. This case study suggests that students as young as eleven and twelve have valuable insights to offer educators and policy makers, both locally and nationally, about what makes a literacy curriculum meaningful and effective.
In this paper we come together as teachers, a school leader and a professor to examine children’s theories of learning to read captured in written and illustrated texts created by 143 children currently enrolled in kindergarten to sixth grade. This collection of children’s theories of reading was created in the context of a progressive elementary school located at Smith College, a women's liberal arts college in Massachusetts. Our hope in examining children’s theories is to humanize and historicize current debates about how reading is taught. We also hope to offer a counter narrative to the dichotomies currently shaping reading education, particularly based on ideas about the “science of reading”. To do so, we start with a short introduction and a brief description of our school and its current approach to reading curriculum, touching on our experiences of the impact of the “science of reading" in our school. We then discuss children’s theories of learning to read focusing on the following themes: (1) variety in reading, (2) reading as a process, (3) reading as skills and experiences, (4) reading as relationships and community, (5) reading as materials, bodies, and environments, and (6) reading as feelings. We close with a moving forward section to briefly highlight the implications and relevance of children’s theories to reading education. Across sections our aim is to advance current ideas about how children understand reading and its learning, based on their experiences with explicit literacy instruction, at a time when the "science of reading" is the subject of intense debate.
In this paper, two scholars and practicing elementary educators argue that the policies and practices of the Science of Reading (SoR) movement in early literacy education are being constructed with the logic of a market economy, shaped by neoliberal ideologies of individualism, scarcity, and competition. Compelled by our concerns for the bodies and beings of readers and reading teachers in the context of our Northeast Georgia public elementary school and provoked by our shared engagement with The Serviceberry, Indigenous scientist and scholar Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book on lessons from the natural world, we engage a postqualitative approach to emergent, relational inquiry that asks how we may think about early literacy research and pedagogy differently. Kimmerer’s concept of the Serviceberry gift economy provides a theoretical lens rooted in relational abundance, gratitude, and reciprocity that extends throughout the inquiry, analysis, and implications. This paper offers a critical analysis of a market economic logic and its neoliberal formations in education that we argue have created the conditions for specific SoR provisions, such as universal screeners and intervention plans (two requirements of Georgia’s 2023 Early Literacy Act), to have a significant impact on the early literacy landscape. We illustrate how market logic works to reduce, nominalize, and commodify reading and reading education, producing problematic identifications and performances for readers and their teachers. Refusing the individualized competition and scarcity embedded in these practices, we (re)conceive early literacy learning—as a rich, complex interrelationship of reading, writing, community, place, bodies, language, and more—in a gift economy. We explore how a gift economy of literacy was cultivated in a professional development session, shared writing project, and community engagement event and offer action-oriented invitations that engage educators and researchers in keeping the gift of literacy in motion.
This article explores how the Bank Street School for Children (SFC), a historically progressive institution rooted in child-centered, experiential learning, has successfully integrated structured phonics into its literacy program. Traditionally focused on whole language practices, SFC recognized inconsistencies in student reading outcomes and, beginning in 2017 undertook a multi-year evaluation of its literacy approach. Guided by the core values of child development and equity, and research in cognitive science, the school adopted a research-based phonics program, implementing it across Kindergarten through fourth grade over multiple years. This shift aimed to ensure all students—not just those with strong language backgrounds—gain the foundational decoding skills necessary for literacy success. Rather than abandoning its progressive values, SFC embedded structured phonics into a rich literacy environment that includes thematic study, diverse literature, expressive writing, and authentic assessment. The integration has improved reading fluency and equity, particularly for students with learning differences. SFC’s experience offers a model for reconciling the polarized “reading wars” and demonstrates that explicit phonics instruction can complement, rather than contradict, a joyful, developmentally responsive approach to literacy education.
Stories of teachers’ classroom lives shape the public imagination of what it means to be a “good teacher,” yet these narratives are always partial, contextual, and entangled with broader cultural and institutional forces. This research essay narratively explores the experiences of Lisa, a veteran literacy teacher navigating Science of Reading (SoR) mandates in her elementary classroom. It examines how her identities, values, and visions for literacy teaching intersect with the discursive, material, and affective dynamics that shape how SoR unfolds in the context of Lisa’s classroom life. (Re)storying her experiences draws attention to the emotional toll and moral dissonance teachers may experience when mandates conflict with their pedagogical commitments—a phenomenon some scholars describe as moral injury. Rather than offering a singular truth, this research essay attends to the complexities of teacherhood, conceptualized as teachers’ evolving identities, sense of efficacy, and experiences teaching reading amid shifting policy and professional demands. It considers what emerges when we closely follow one teacher’s negotiation of policy, identity, and classroom practice. Lisa’s story raises broader questions about how we might sustain teacher agency and well-being in policy-driven landscapes.
This article offers a deep dive into two lessons of a structured literacy curriculum to interrogate how current SoR–aligned mandates materialize in a Spanish dual-language first-grade classroom. Using Critical Discourse Analysis and Curriculum as a Discourse as both our conceptual frame and analytical method, we examine (a) La gran historia de Dilly—a retelling of The Ugly Duckling translated into Spanish—and (b) the teacher-facing lesson plan supplied by a major commercial publisher. Four patterns emerged: (1) reading is reduced to quantifiable skills (Lexile badges, sight-word drills) while the tale naturalizes biologically ‘correct’ identities, erasing hybrid selves; (2) scripted directives recast teachers as technicians and students as data points, extending SoR’s surveillance logic; (3) English-centric texts, monolingual assessments, and token cognate tasks constrain culturally sustaining and translanguaging practices, though remix opportunities exist; and (4) English-centric phonics assumptions (e.g., Ll taught without dialectal context) misalign with Spanish orthography. These features re-inscribe English hierarchies under a scientific veneer, complicating the phonics-versus-meaning binary that dominates SoR debates. We propose six counter-discursive moves—centering authentic Spanish texts, Spanish-specific orthographic study, routine translanguaging, explicit contrastive analysis, restored teacher agency, and Spanish-based readability metrics—to align SoR strengths with the sociocultural and linguistic needs of emergent bilinguals. The study adds a critical, context-rich narrative to the literature on SoR implementation in multilingual classrooms.
This paper is a memoir of our experiences with Youth Taking Action (YTA), a YPAR program that took place during the COVID-19 pandemic. YTA, a collaborative effort organized by a non-profit based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, provided a space for 6 newcomer youths and 4 immigrant adults to engage in active dialogue. Through these conversations, we explored stories of immigration and settlement, identified barriers that limit opportunities for young newcomers and discussed possible actions to address these issues. The youth also learned documentary filmmaking techniques, which helped them collect data and generate more dialogue. This process revealed that linguistic racism and inadequate institutional support are the primary challenges faced by newcomers. As a result, the youth participants speculated on ways to organize and create a collective voice to advocate for future young people arriving in Canada.
This article explores how storytelling, particularly through picture books, facilitates learning across boundaries of age, culture, gender, and education. In this article, we emphasize the value of picture books in integrating Indigenous oral traditions into the classroom, highlighting how these texts foster a reciprocal relationship between listener and storyteller. By focusing on the act of listening, our article argues that Indigenous picture books require active participation and decentering of the individual, positioning listeners as part of a larger collective. This article also underscores the importance of viewing children as active, responsible, and agential members of their communities, aligning with Indigenous perspectives that recognize children as contributors to communal knowledge and well-being. Using Michaela Goade’s Berry Song as a case study, the article examines how listening to child protagonists in Indigenous picture books can serve as a means of learning and teaching. We further assert that these picture books are not only educational tools but also vehicles for decolonial pedagogy, helping to bridge cultural, generational, and educational divides. Through this lens, Indigenous storytelling offers a transformative opportunity to rethink the role of children in education, and in doing so, we advocate for teaching approaches that center children’s voices and their place within broader cultural narratives. Ultimately, the article highlights the power of Indigenous picture books in facilitating decolonial learning practices and promoting cross-cultural understanding.
At the heart of decision-making in children’s literature is the publisher who decides whose stories are told and how (Encisco et al, 2010). There is some research concerning inclusivity practices in the children’s literature that we see in libraries, homes and publishing houses (Caple & Tian, 2022; Daly, Vanderschantz, Mitchell & Blair, 2025; Daly, 2021; Stagg Peterson & Robinson, 2020). There is, however, little work examining how the publishing process can contribute to increased diversity in children’s picturebooks, particularly in relation to Indigenous languages and cultures. International research shows that there is limited cultural and linguistic diversity evident in children’s picturebooks (Ka’ai-Mahuta, 2011; Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, 2022; Wissman, 2019). This lack of diversity has implications for literacy engagement and the perpetuation of social inequality (Caple & Tian, 2022; Adam, 2021; Tschida, Ryan & Ticknor, 2014; Wissman, 2019). Compared to non-Indigenous publishers, there are few Indigenous publishers of children’s literature around the world, and very limited research examining the publishing process in Indigenous contexts. Moreover, there is no empirical research to date exploring Indigenous publishing processes that ensure the representation of Indigenous language, culture and identities in children’s literature (Bradford, 2007; Sheehan-Bright, 2011; Stagg Peterson & Robinson, 2020). In this article we hope to contribute to a deeper understanding of Indigenous Children’s and Young Adult Literature (ICYAL) by sharing details and some preliminary findings of our three-year New Zealand Royal Society, Marsden funded research project. In this research we are exploring the ways in which Indigenous voices are and can be authentically represented in picture books, through a close collaboration with Huia Publishers, a multi-award-winning Indigenous publisher based in Pōneke (Wellington).
Stemming from a large ethnographic study exploring young Indigenous children’s literacy and language practices in and out of school in a Hoche elementary school in rural Northeast China, this paper focuses on the navigation of Indigenous literature, language, and literacy learning of young Hoche children. Particularly, this reflective paper challenges the efficacy of Hoche language education in the oppressive context of the public schooling system, inviting Indigenous and non-Indigenous educators in China and across the world to rethink the urgency of reclaiming this endangered language and the power of Indigenous literature in understanding Hoche Indigenous ways of knowing, belonging, and becoming. Through reflecting on challenges surrounding contemporary Hoche language practices, this essay sheds light on tools to effectively utilize Indigenous children’s literature for engaging young generations’ awareness to revitalize the Hoche Indigenous language. Adopting multimodal ways of learning Hoche language can lead to celebrations of Hoche literature, including the Yimankan oral storytelling, fish skin art-based literature composition, and multimodal demonstrations of Hoche language.
Our contribution to the Occasional Paper Series is driven by the editors request for articles that will provide readers with an opportunity to learn how to use Indigenous Children’s and Young Adult Literature (ICYAL) texts responsibly. In our experience, children encounter far too much anti-Indigeneity in literature, and therefore the classroom.. Before using a book, a teacher must select the book they plan to use in the classroom. If the teacher is seeking to “provide opportunities for students to develop interpersonal relationships between real live kids and those who live only on the page,” (Leitich Smith, 2020) we think it is crucial that teachers consider the identity of the book’s author. We also think it is imperative that teachers choose books by Native writers.
Indigenous children's literature is a vital resource for nurturing cultural understandings and appreciation from an early age for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous children. This paper presents insights gathered from a workshop titled "Nurturing Indigenous Childhoods Through Themed Picture Books: Making Connections to the Local," which emerged as a culmination of our collaborative work on a massive open online course (MOOC) centered on Indigenous pedagogy in early childhood education. We curated a list of Indigenous children's books and engaged in discussions on the significance of Indigenous literature in nurturing cultural identity and literacy learning. In doing so, we aspired to create inclusive and culturally responsive learning environments that honour Indigenous perspectives and empower children to navigate the complexities of the world with empathy and understanding. Incorporating Indigenous literature into early learning practices presents unique challenges and considerations that educators must carefully navigate. To address these considerations, we have provided reflective prompts and guiding questions designed to encourage educators' active engagement with their local Indigenous communities. In turn, it is hoped that early childhood educators will feel better supported in engaging with Indigenous children’s literature and in cultivating cultural understanding, empathy, and appreciation among young learners.
We conceptualize Indigenous literatures as integral tools for supporting teachers on their journeys toward truth and reconciliation. As such, we intentionally offer our work as a pedagogical guide for introducing Indigenous Children’s and Young Adult Literatures (ICYAL) in secondary level English courses, asserting that the delivery of such works must be taught in ways that align with anti-racist praxis, acknowledge varied experiences of racism, sexism, and gender-based violences, and promote liberatory thinking. Indeed, while Indigenous literatures are excellent pedagogical tools to engage conversations about social justice and anti-Indigenous racism, they must be paired with key lessons that dismantle harmful, disrespectful and racist narratives. We consider the pedagogical possibilities highlighted through the relationship between anti-colonial literacies and Indigenous futurities by focusing on a relational analysis of Vermette’s novels The Break (2016), The Strangers (2021) and The Circle (2023). These novels bring to life fictional experiences that may resonate and offer what Dian Million (2009) refers to as a felt sense of familiarity for many Indigenous readers. For non-Indigenous readers, Vermette explained her intention is to promote empathy by sharing experiences through stories. We see this as a call for a relational reading praxis that moves from writing as witness to reading as witness. Vermette’s statement “I realized I could write what I see” (Hanson, 2020, p. 56), demonstrates the power behind giving voice to what she sees in her Winnipeg hometown and Métis community as a way to promote social change.
