From the Editors

Abstract

Beginning with Volume 69, RT will be published six times a year! The change will allow for bimonthly distribution in July, September, November, January, March, and May. Overall page count for an annual subscription will remain the same; we are just packing more into fewer issues. With this frequency change, ILA and our publisher, Wiley-Blackwell, are reducing our carbon footprint with two fewer mailings each year. Also, the new bimonthly schedule provides more regular mailings—without the winter and summer breaks in delivery that are part of the current delivery schedule. We are excited to begin providing a summer issue for readers’ professional learning to support getting into the back-to-school mode! In discussing the contents in Issue 8, we realized that this final issue offers a thoughtful end to Volume 68. The pieces in this issue focus on difficult, important, and timely ideas. As you read through this issue, we think that, like us, you will find familiarity in articles offering techniques that can be readily applied in classrooms. However, for us, the articles also elicited discussions about literacy in a broader context, extending from the classroom to the world. We contemplated, for example, the meaning of college and career readiness and how teachers align their curricula to the CCSS while also preparing students for success in a global world. Shanahan's article provided the initial springboard for our discussion. He shares with readers many of the questions he has been asked about the CCSS and then offers thoughtful answers. In addressing a question about “gaps in the Standards,” he reminds us that “the Standards lay out the major goals that must be accomplished….states, school districts, and even individual teachers have to determine what it may take—what would have to be taught—to ensure students meet the Standards.” In juxtaposing this idea with the ideas of global understanding, critical literacy, and social justice raised in this issue, we considered the notion of global competence. Mansilla and Jackson (2011) explain that “global competence is the capacity and disposition to understand and act on issues of global significance” (p. xiii) and that students who are globally competent understand and successfully articulate their own worldviews while also recognizing and valuing the views of others. The importance of developing globally competent students is demonstrated in a variety of ways though the literacy practices described in this issue. For example, Martens and colleagues explore the value of using global literature to develop interculturalism. They describe an approach in which children develop their cultural identities, respect and value others’ thinking, and “take action for social change.” Similarly, Schrodt, Fain, and Hasty describe a project that integrates literacy, family, and culture with kindergarten students. The authors suggest, “As students begin to know and value their own cultures, they also begin to know and value the cultures of others.” In examining the process of meaning making of diverse texts, Leland, Ociepka, and Wackerly situate their work in a critical literacy model where literacy instruction “includes personal and cultural resources, critical social practices, and the critical stance one enacts in both the classroom and the world.” Wall and Palmer discuss an approach to literacy coaching that enacts the meaning of global competence. In valuing the perspective of others, they highlighted the importance of literacy coaches being “open to seeing another's ideas as potentially valid and well-intended. If the other person believes something to be true, why is that?… We have to be truly curious about the answer if we intend to dialogue honestly with them.” We hope that the concluding issue of Volume 68 begins important conversations about how we shape literacy instruction to promote the development of global competence with students.