Advancing the Science of Teaching Reading Equitably

Abstract

ABSTRACTTeaching reading is more complex than reading, especially when teaching students from minoritized communities. Teaching reading equitably requires educators to integrate their knowledge of skills involved in reading, assisting students to learn to read, and everyday sociocultural practices and identities of readers. In this article, I examine what research has found across methodological traditions regarding teaching reading equitably, as well as what still needs to be explored. For the “science of reading” community, I frame equitable teaching as effective in assisting student reading performance and meaningful in terms of integrating values and practices from minoritized students’ everyday lives. Drawing largely on interpretive research, I identify sociocultural processes in teaching reading that connect with minoritized students’ everyday identities and experiences, support student initiative and expression, and foster collaborative relationships in the classroom to assist student participation and performance in reading. To advance the science of teaching reading equitably, I recommend that pluralistic research build generalizable evidence regarding effects of equitable teaching on reading and language gains for minoritized students, mechanisms in teaching reading equitably, and processes and materials to support teacher learning to sustain implementation of equitable practices to teach reading.