Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and the Science of Reading. 

As reading specialists and culturally responsive educators, we acknowledge the profound impact the Science of Reading has on literacy curriculum and instruction. However, we challenge the prominence of the Science of Reading as the best and only approach for literacy instruction, particularly because of the lack of culturally sustaining practices within many Science of Reading-based curricula. The tension between skills-based reading curricula and culturally sustaining pedagogies presents a false dichotomy, one that we reject and work to bridge alongside knowledgeable and experienced educators. We must be courageous in resisting harmful and incomplete narratives of Black and brown students’ reading achievement. What is needed is less debate over the best ways to teach reading, and more commitment to redesigning reading curriculum that attends to BOTH the academic needs of word recognition, fluency, and comprehension, as well as the human needs of affirmation, radical love, and self-determination. 

Our name, Critical Learning Collaborative, is inspired by educators bell hooks and Paulo Freire’s views of critical pedagogy — the belief that education should challenge learners to examine power structures and patterns of inequality; the belief that literacy education is about reading the word AND reading the world. Literacy curriculum must include more than decoding, vocabulary, and fluency– it must also include developing students’ critical consciousness, a necessary step toward achieving equity. Liberatory work must be done in community with others, and literacy is at the heart of liberation! We proudly stand on the shoulders of Black, Indigenous, and Latinx scholars – Gholdy Muhammad, Jamila Lyiscott, Gloria Ladson-Billings, Pedro Noguera, and others – who have challenged educators to rethink what literacy pedagogy can and should be. It is through deep partnership that we work alongside educators to reimagine classrooms that foster rigorous and liberatory literacy experiences, center students’ complex identities and lived experiences, and nurture authentic connection and collaboration.   

We are excited to partner with educators and school leaders looking to redesign literacy curriculum so that it integrates foundational reading skills alongside culturally sustaining and liberatory practices. As veteran classroom teachers and reading specialists, we have nearly 30 years of combined teaching experience in bringing together the science of teaching reading and the art of culturally sustaining pedagogies. Our extensive experience working with Black and brown youth have afforded us with a unique understanding of both the complexity and absolute necessity of balancing and integrating reading skills with relevance and purpose. It is through this integration that we’re able to empower and uplift our students and their communities. Liberatory literacy curriculum must go beyond developing cognitive skills; it must also repair harm caused by policies, curricula, and institutions that have failed to honor and sustain students' humanity. That is why we designed our Love, Learning, and Liberation framework! By leveraging youth literacy practices as the foundation for curriculum design, LOVE, LEARNING, and LIBERATION is an instructional framework that enables all students to experience freedom in learning about themselves and others, in being their authentic selves, and in applying their knowledge to contribute to a more just society.