Differences in performance between students of poverty and more advantaged students are reflective of an opportunity gap, as opposed to a gap in student ability. This book argues that significant attention must be given to eliminating the barriers that produce educational inequities in student achievement. Walker-Dalhouse and Risko focus on disparities in literacy achievement that might be attributed to color-blind practices, deficit mindsets, low expectations, or context-neutral practices. Situating literacy learning within a comprehensive view of literacy development, they provide a set of instructional practices that will best support students living in poverty. Specifically, vignettes from kindergarten through middle school classrooms are used to demonstrate practices that address critical areas of the reading process; are responsive to students’ racial, ethnic, cultural, gender, and linguistic histories and assets; attend to students’ strengths and needs; and go beyond the impact of short-term testing to support optimal and sustainable learning. Educators and school leaders can use this resource to transform schools into nurturing and vibrant communities that are committed to change, equity, and diversity. Book Features: Provides recommendations and detailed guidance for enacting literacy instruction that will close opportunity gaps for students living in poverty.Includes vignettes from leading literacy educators and researchers that demonstrate high-quality literacy instruction implemented in K–8 classrooms.Presents instruction that is responsive to differences and honors the languages, literacies, and cultural resources that students bring to their learning.Offers specific recommendations and practices that can guide advocacy for change. “The authors correct the deficit misperceptions by showing how students experiencing poverty are the targets, not the causes, of educational disparities. . . . What a different world schools would be if we each embraced these lessons.” —From the Afterword by Paul C. Gorski, founder, Equity Literacy Institute

This book centres the voices of a group of marginalized residents in Grenada’s ghetto to examine questions of poverty and survival and how, within this context, residents are able to focus on improvement and equity for their children through education. As a developing nation in the Caribbean influenced by both its British colonial past and its proximity to the United States, Grenada is still rife with poverty, and access to quality education is limited. The author examines this tradition of the ghetto as the centre of community and a force for positivity among youth, and develops a theory of education and deficit poverty through examples of citizens living in a developing state. Using functionalism, life course, and other systems theories, the book examines how institutions can support communities, and, in contrast, how families in poverty support themselves in the wake of system failure, to the extent that some children become successful university graduates, entrepreneurs, and world travellers. A cutting analysis of the development of equity through education in states left behind by colonialism and globalisation, this book offers new understandings of survival and criminality caused by deficit poverty. It will appeal to scholars, faculty, and researchers with interests in international education, education and globalisation, small island states, life course theory, systems theory, and anthropology.

This new edition of the bestseller Reading, Writing, and Talk responds to the urgent need for creating language and literacy pathways that are inclusive, intentional, and center wholeness and belonging. The authors explain, show, and offer critical reflections on the development, teaching, and learning of reading, writing, and talk from preschool through the early grades--across language practices, dis/abilities, and contexts. This second edition troubles whose reading, writing, and talk belongs in schools, offering insights into and examples of fostering belonging in the classroom. It elucidates the racialization of academic language and analyzes school-sponsored language and literacy curricula to demonstrate the power of expansive literacies and linguistic justice in practice. Readers will enter classrooms where teachers learn from and alongside children, families, and communities about identities, practices, values, funds of knowledge, and more. This thorough update of the popular text offers a wealth of knowledge and examples to help educators truly and fully teach reading, writing, and talk for equity and justice. Book Features: Offers a warm invitation to shift mindsets and consider possibilities for furthering language and literacy development with young children. Brings to light powerful concepts like linguistic justice and communicative belonging through powerful classroom scenarios. Centers Black, Indigenous, and other children, teachers, families, and communities of color. Explains how oral language, reading, and writing develop and can be taught in the early grades across languages (bilingual, multilingual), abilities, and contexts. Focuses on constructing classrooms that foster belonging and on teaching for equity and justice.

Writing is a critical component for teaching children about advocacy and empowering student voice, as well as an essential tool for learning in many disciplines. Yet, writing instruction in schools often focuses on traditional methods such as the composition of five-paragraph essays or the adherence to proper grammatical conventions. While these are two components of writing instruction and preparation in education, they only provide a small glimpse into the depth and breadth of writing. As such, writing instruction is increasingly complex and requires multiple perspectives and levels of skill among teachers. The Handbook of Research on Writing Instruction Practices for Equitable and Effective Teaching serves as a comprehensive reference of issues related to writing instruction and leading research about perspectives, methods, and approaches for equitable and effective writing instruction. It includes practices beyond K-12, including best writing practices at the college level as well as the development of future teachers. Providing unique coverage on culturally relevant writing, socio- and racio-linguistic justice, and urgent writing pedagogies, this major reference work is an indispensable resource for administrators and educators of both K-12 and higher education, pre-service teachers, teacher educators, libraries, government officials, researchers, and academicians.

Many standard reading assessment approaches fail to capture the strengths and needs of students from diverse sociocultural, linguistic, and academic backgrounds. From expert authors, this book guides educators in planning and conducting meaningful, equitable assessments that empower K–5 teachers and students, inform responsive instruction, and help to guard against bias. The book's holistic view of reading encompasses areas from text comprehension and constrained skills to building trusting relationships and promoting students’ agency. Twenty-eight assessment strategies are explained in step-by-step detail, including helpful implementation examples and 32 reproducible forms that teachers can download and print in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size.

This book provides important information regarding the Millennium Development Goals, adopted unanimously by the United Nations in 2000, setting explicit targets in terms of achieving progress in the developing world. This volume provides both a theoretical overview of the role of education in development and also illustrates this with various case studies (based on work of non-government organisations and other donors) in the Asia-Pacific region. The authors include a mix of development practitioners as well as academics engaged in research in this field. Thus, the theory is illustrated and extrapolated by case studies focussing on community development interventions.

This influential book describes the knowledge and skills educators need to recognize and combat the bias and inequity that undermine educational engagement for students experiencing poverty. This edition features revisions based on new research and lessons from the author’s professional development work, including the dangers of “grit” and deficit perspectives. “A must-read for educators in schools of all kinds. This accessible, highly relevant book empowers teachers with tools they can use today. Read it, talk about it with your friends and colleagues, and use it as a guide for your next project in educational activism! Our students’ school experiences will surely be better for it.” —Rethinking Schools “Provides a good overview of the topic, delivers clear, well-researched information, and helps all educators expand their knowledge of poverty and social class.” —Choice “Gorski provides practical strategies for teachers, administrators, and school staff that will help immediately improve schools, particularly for the most marginalized students.” —Cheryl Robinson, cultural competency coordinator, Alexandria City Public Schools, Virginia

Revised and updated with 25 new essays, the fourth edition of this bestselling collection brings together more than 30 leaders in the field of educational theory. An engaging exploration of the ideas and trends shaping education in today's classrooms, Philosophy of Education includes topics on high-stakes testing, consumerism in education, and social justice issues in the classroom. How can we teach students moral values while avoiding indoctrination? How should a teacher deal with controversial issues in the classroom? What role should standards play in education, and who develops those standards? And why is the link between theory and practice in the classroom important in the first place? Philosophy of Education provides students, teachers, and administrators with a lively and accessible introduction to the central debates and issues in education today.

Through a rich mix of essays, memoirs, and poetry, the contributors to The Poverty and Education Reader bring to the fore the schooling experiences of poor and working class students, highlighting the resiliency, creativity, and educational aspirations of low-income families. They showcase proven strategies that imaginative teachers and schools have adopted for closing the opportunity gap, demonstrating how they have succeeded by working in partnership with low-income families, and despite growing class sizes, the imposition of rote pedagogical models, and teach-to-the-test mandates. The contributors—teachers, students, parents, educational activists, and scholars—repudiate the prevalent, but too rarely discussed, deficit views of students and families in poverty. Rather than focusing on how to “fix” poor and working class youth, they challenge us to acknowledge the ways these youth and their families are disenfranchised by educational policies and practices that deny them the opportunities enjoyed by their wealthier peers. Just as importantly, they offer effective school and classroom strategies to mitigate the effects of educational inequality on students in poverty. Rejecting the simplistic notion that a single program, policy, or pedagogy can undo social or educational inequalities, this Reader inspires and equips educators to challenge the disparities to which underserved communities are subjected. It is a positive resource for students of education and for teachers, principals, social workers, community organizers, and policy makers who want to make the promise of educational equality a reality.