Break Point: The Challenges of Teaching Multicultural Education Courses

Teaching multicultural education courses to preservice teachers exacts an emotional toll as they begin to acknowledge their ethnic awareness

Advancing Antiracism in Literacy Research

This invited article is a precursor to the Racial Justice in Literacy Research Report. It is framed around the key concepts of equity, literacy, race, and their intersections in the field of literacy research. The authors make the case that antiracism is the best antidote to a history of unacknowledged racism in the field and in contemporary practice. The authors outline several fundamental principles of antiracism, beginning with working definitions of antiracism, institutional racism, and structural/systemic racism. The authors provide examples of frameworks used to engage antiracism in education broadly and conclude with suggestions for an antiracism framework for literacy research

Gender and sexuality in the official high school curriculum: Initial considerations on Brazil and the U.S.A.

The youths increasingly constitute multiple ways of existing and present diversified demands to schools. However, many scientific pieces of research have pointed out some impasses between students and High Schools. Thus, there are many challenges to the curricula and educational policies. In this scenario in Brazil, the denominated High School Reform, which through Law 13.415/17 imposes a series of regulations on education at that stage of teaching, is taking place. The coup government tries to convince that this measure will modernize the curriculum by praising it in several advertisements. By doing so, the government restricts the analysis and discloses that a centralized compulsory standardized unique: Common National Curriculum Base – BNCC. In the BNCC version approved in 2018, gender diversity and sexuality are mentioned only once among the 154 pages planned for high schools. Such exclusion, which is already severely denounced in researches, represents an unprecedented setback. A risk of building a fairer society without prejudice, discrimination, violence, violations, and inequalities. In the United States, Common Core State Standards (CCCS) is no mention of the discussion of gender and sexuality. Therefore, it is important to consider how specifically the state of Illinois deliberates on its curriculum issues. Given this situation, it is interesting to note two important findings. The first is that the state of Illinois confirms its adherence to CCSS, which is presented in full, composing the curriculum documentation available on the Illinois State Board of Education website. The second finding is that although the CCSS excludes the discussion of gender and sexuality, of all the numerous extensions systematized by the state of Illinois, two of them directly concern what is analyzed in this paper; the obligation of the Study of the History of Women and the inclusion of the discussion on sexuality and sexuality education in the Physical Education/Health Learning field.This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001.Ope

Gender and sexuality in the official high school curriculum: Initial considerations on Brazil and the U.S.A.

The youths increasingly constitute multiple ways of existing and present diversified demands to schools. However, many scientific pieces of research have pointed out some impasses between students and High Schools. Thus, there are many challenges to the curricula and educational policies. In this scenario in Brazil, the denominated High School Reform, which through Law 13.415/17 imposes a series of regulations on education at that stage of teaching, is taking place. The coup government tries to convince that this measure will modernize the curriculum by praising it in several advertisements. By doing so, the government restricts the analysis and discloses that a centralized compulsory standardized unique: Common National Curriculum Base – BNCC. In the BNCC version approved in 2018, gender diversity and sexuality are mentioned only once among the 154 pages planned for high schools. Such exclusion, which is already severely denounced in researches, represents an unprecedented setback. A risk of building a fairer society without prejudice, discrimination, violence, violations, and inequalities. In the United States, Common Core State Standards (CCCS) is no mention of the discussion of gender and sexuality. Therefore, it is important to consider how specifically the state of Illinois deliberates on its curriculum issues. Given this situation, it is interesting to note two important findings. The first is that the state of Illinois confirms its adherence to CCSS, which is presented in full, composing the curriculum documentation available on the Illinois State Board of Education website. The second finding is that although the CCSS excludes the discussion of gender and sexuality, of all the numerous extensions systematized by the state of Illinois, two of them directly concern what is analyzed in this paper; the obligation of the Study of the History of Women and the inclusion of the discussion on sexuality and sexuality education in the Physical Education/Health Learning field.This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001.Ope

Affirming Black Students\u27 Lives and Literacies: Bearing Witness

Drawing on the authors’ experiences as Black parents, researchers, teachers, and teacher educators, this timely book presents a multipronged approach to affirming Black lives and literacies. The authors believe change is needed—not within Black children, but in the way they are perceived and educated, particularly in reading, writing, and critical thinking across grade levels. To inform literacy teachers and school leaders, the authors provide a conceptual framework for reimagining literacy instruction based on Black philosophical and theoretical foundations, historical background, literacy research, and authentic experiences of Black students. This important book includes counternarratives about the lives of Black learners; research conducted by Black scholars among Black students; examples of approaches to literacy with Black children that are making a difference; conversations among literacy researchers that move beyond academia; and a model for engaging all students in literacy. Affirming Black Students’ Lives and Literacies advocates for adopting a standard of care that will improve and support literacy achievement among today’s Black students by rejecting deficit presumptions and embracing the fullness of these students’ strengths

Affirming Black Students\u27 Lives and Literacies: Bearing Witness

Drawing on the authors’ experiences as Black parents, researchers, teachers, and teacher educators, this timely book presents a multipronged approach to affirming Black lives and literacies. The authors believe change is needed—not within Black children, but in the way they are perceived and educated, particularly in reading, writing, and critical thinking across grade levels. To inform literacy teachers and school leaders, the authors provide a conceptual framework for reimagining literacy instruction based on Black philosophical and theoretical foundations, historical background, literacy research, and authentic experiences of Black students. This important book includes counternarratives about the lives of Black learners; research conducted by Black scholars among Black students; examples of approaches to literacy with Black children that are making a difference; conversations among literacy researchers that move beyond academia; and a model for engaging all students in literacy. Affirming Black Students’ Lives and Literacies advocates for adopting a standard of care that will improve and support literacy achievement among today’s Black students by rejecting deficit presumptions and embracing the fullness of these students’ strengths

Reimagining LRA in the Spirit of a Transcendent Approach to Literacy

This invited paper highlights the reflections of expert panelists who were spontaneously called upon, graciously accepted, and quickly organized to respond thoughtfully and compellingly to Dr. Arlette Willis' powerful and timely Oscar Causey address at the 2022 Literacy Research Association (LRA) annual conference. In her address, Dr. Willis issued a clarion call for a Transcendent Approach to Literacy (TAL) to a space where “We recreate literacy as an equitable and moral construct” (Willis, this volume). This paper comprises Dr. Alfred Tatum's comprehensive introduction, the cogent reflections on TAL by panelists Dr. Josh Coleman, Dr. Marcus Croom, Dr. Matthew Deroo, Dr. Michiko Hikida, Dr. Emily Machado, Dr. Patriann Smith, Dr. Chad Waldron, and Dr. Rahat Zaidi, and Dr. Willis' eloquent epilogue. In her epilogue, she provides not an ending but the genesis of a movement forward for the LRA community to “be brave” and actively and genuinely engage in a TAL that “democratizes literacy, declaring literacy belongs to all.