Literacy Now

The International Literacy Association (ILA), in partnership with Kwame Alexander, award-winning children’s book author and founding editor of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt imprint Versify, announced today “How to Raise and Teach Anti-Racist Kids,” a Facebook Live event starting at 7:00 p.m. ET this Thursday, June 18.

The free event is a follow-up to June 4’s overwhelmingly successful KidLit Rally for Black Lives, hosted by advocacy group The Brown Bookshelf. Alexander, a frequent ILA conference keynoter, organized the rally with fellow authors Jacqueline Woodson and Jason Reynolds in less than 48 hours—a “roll of thunder” call to action in response to the killing of George Floyd in late May.

“Teachers and parents must educate and empower students to imagine a better world,” said Alexander. “For that to happen in the classroom and at home, they’ve got to be better prepared. The rally, this town hall, are all small efforts to get them ready for this paramount work.”  

“How to Raise and Teach Anti-Racist Kids” is a perfect example of “the work we [at ILA] should be doing,” said ILA Vice President of the Board Dr. Stephen G. Peters, who will deliver opening remarks.

“ILA is an anti-racist organization that stands for justice and equality,” Peters asserted in a joint statement issued by ILA leadership earlier this month.

The first half of Thursday’s event will be a panel discussion moderated by Alexander, followed by a 45-minute Q&A. Panelists include educators Cornelius Minor, author of We Got This: Equity, Access, and the Quest to Be Who Our Students Need Us to Be; Tiffany M. Jewell, author of This Book is Anti-Racist; Pam Allyn, global literacy expert and coauthor (with Dr. Ernest Morrell) of Every Child a Super Reader; and Dr. Noni Thomas López, head of school at The Gordon School in Providence, R.I., in addition to Karyn Parsons, author and founder of Sweet Blackberry, a nonprofit with a mission “to bring little known stories of African American achievement to children everywhere.”

Parsons is best known for playing Hilary Banks on the 1990s NBC sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” but hers is just one familiar face: Minor is a longtime ILA collaborator and an important figure in the organization’s social justice work.

At the ILA 2016 Conference, which took place in Boston, MA, literally days after police shootings claimed the lives of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, Minor facilitated an on-the-fly session modeling how teachers could talk about emotionally charged and controversial issues in the classroom.

The following year, Minor delivered powerful remarks at ILA’s inaugural equity panel—inspired by his session at ILA 2016—which also featured Pulitzer Prize winner Nikole Hannah-Jones.

Thursday’s event marks an important next step in the #ILAequity movement, said Peters. He added, “This is just the beginning of much more to come.”

HASHTAGS: #KidLit4BlackLives; #ILAequity

The live event will have an ASL interpreter, available through the support of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Closed captioning will be available on the archived recording.

We received this letter from ILA member Etta Hollins, who granted her permission to publish it on Literacy Now. Thank you, Professor Hollins, for your thoughtful contribution and call to action.

The police killing of George Floyd has brought discussions of systemic racism to the forefront. Colleges, universities, professional organizations, major companies of every description, and regular citizens have acknowledged the presence of systemic racism in the society and many have written letters to students, colleagues, and employees supporting the protests and making a commitment to equity and social justice. It is time for educational practitioners, scholars, and researchers to engage in introspection regarding systemic racism in teaching practices, teacher preparation, and educational research. We can begin this discussion by acknowledging barriers in African American people’s struggle for literacy.

African American people’s struggle for literacy in the United States has been long, difficult, and framed by the barriers of systemic racism in pedagogical practices, educational research, and legal authority. During slavery, it was illegal to teach slaves to read. Yet, out of slavery came such notable individuals as educator Booker T. Washington and scientist George Washington Carver. The often-inferior facilities, resources, and materials provided in segregated schools after slavery produced notable scholars and leaders of the Civil Rights movement including the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, Congressman John Lewis, and many education practitioners, scholars, and researchers. In the face of this historical background, many education practitioners, scholars, and researchers make the claims that African American children are unable to learn to read because they lack the necessary home environment, role models, access to printed texts, and vocabulary. These are nonsensical claims given the fact that many children learned to read while experiencing the trauma of slavery.

Today, the struggle for African American children’s literacy is as challenging as its difficult history. Teachers are trained in recently mandated Eurocentric perspectives and practices that dominate research in reading instruction. Several familiar national panels, commissions, and committees have determined that the only proven way to teach early literacy is by using a Eurocentric code-based phonetic approach. The corollary to this conclusion is that those children not learning to read using this approach have either a learning disability or deficit and deprivation in the home or community. Consequently, African American children are disproportionately identified as learning disabled, placed in special education, and denied opportunities for developing full literacy. This fits the definition of systemic racism.

I am proposing that we [in the field of literacy education] begin a serious discussion of systemic racism in literacy practices and research and that we take responsibility for our contribution to systemic racism in the society.

The International Literacy Association (ILA) announced today the appointment of five literacy scholars from Salisbury University in Maryland as the incoming editors of the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy (JAAL), the leading peer-reviewed journal for educators of literacy learners ages 12 and older. Their four-year term will begin on July 1, 2020.

The new editors are as follows:

Judith Franzak, Senior Editor

Laurie Henry, Associate Editor

Koomi Kim, Associate Editor

Heather Porter, Associate Editor

Thea Williamson, Associate Editor

“We couldn’t be prouder to welcome this team to the ILA journal family,” said ILA Executive Director Marcie Craig Post. “They represent an impressive group of visionaries who are dedicated to shaping the future of literacy research and elevating new voices.”

Among the team’s goals: increasing contributions from scholars outside of North America and a heavier emphasis on family and community-based applications. They also hope to expand the journal’s reach through social media.

JAAL, the only literacy journal published exclusively for teachers of older learners, reflects current theory, research, and practice in support of effective literacy instruction. In addition to middle school, secondary, and postsecondary classroom teachers, its readership includes university researchers and scholars, literacy consultants, administrators, and policymakers.

The International Literacy Association (ILA) announced today the appointment of five literacy scholars from Michigan State University as incoming editors for The Reading Teacher (RT), the leading peer-reviewed journal for educators of literacy learners up to age 12. Their four-year term begins on July 1, 2020.

The new editors are as follows:

Tanya Wright, Senior Editor

Patricia Edwards, Coeditor

Laura Tortorelli, Associate Editor

Lucía Cárdenas Curiel, Associate Editor

Shireen Al-Adeimi, Associate Editor

Wright, Edwards, and Tortorelli all have long histories of service and engagement with ILA. Edwards, in fact, is a past president of the International Reading Association (now the International Literacy Association). The team's collective research interests include foundational skills, biliteracy, and family engagement.

“Together, our work spans a broad range of ages, developmental stages, and critical focus areas,” they noted in their application.

“As we welcome this extraordinary editorial team, we also usher in a new era for The Reading Teacher,” said ILA Executive Director Marcie Craig Post. “The perspectives they bring, combining both established and rising voices in the field, will be critical in our mission to elevate the reach of the journal and explore new opportunities for engagement.”

Among those opportunities: a robust strategy for leveraging social media, which the team believes is key to amplifying the journal’s content. Plans include a podcast series with authors and fostering discourse on Twitter.  

RT has provided educators with practical teaching ideas grounded in theory and research for more than 60 years. The journal focuses on primary and elementary classroom instruction and is written by educators for educators, providing practical, evidence-based teaching ideas, articles to help educators transform research into effective practice, and information on the most critical issues in teaching and professional development.

Yesterday, one of our Twitter followers asked us, “Do #BlackLivesMatter?”

The answer is, unequivocally, yes.

We know words have power. What we say, how we say it, and to whom—all of it carries weight on a so-called normal day.

But these days, when the world is reeling not only from a global pandemic but also from yet another horrific act of police brutality against a member of the black community, words matter even more.

So, let’s be clear:

ILA is an anti-racist organization that stands for justice and equality.

We aim to embed racial and ethnic equity in everything we do.

We elevate the voices of those struggling to be heard.

And we do it all in service of you, your students, and the field of literacy education.

We are facing an uncertain future, unclear on what schools will look like next year, let alone the next decade.

What is certain is that sweeping systemic changes are required to ensure equity and inclusivity for all.

That’s why we continue to invest in evidence-based approaches to social-emotional learning and trauma-responsive instruction.

We're committed to providing professional learning for educators to guide them in this work. To supporting critical research that will help improve outcomes for every child, everywhere. To influencing educational policy that will disrupt and dismantle systems of oppression in every corner of the world.

Words don’t mean anything without the actions behind them.

What will you do today? How will you be an agent of change?

Let us know how ILA can support your efforts.

Kathy N. Headley
President of the Board

Stephen G. Peters
Vice President of the Board

Bernadette Dwyer
Immediate Past President of the Board

Marcie Craig Post
Executive Director