Reading aloud in an era of common core: An exploratory study of the perspectives of primary teachers serving African American children in low-income communities

Abstract

Within the last decade, two large reading reform efforts have directed state and local state school reading instruction, the Reading First Initiative (2002) and the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (2010). These initiatives have heavily shaped literacy teaching and learning with a focus on disparity reduction in literacy achievement among culturally diverse student groups. Unfortunately, the impact of such policies on student reading achievement and reading instruction is mixed. In other words, there is little consensus or firm evidence to document substantial positive outcomes of reading policy implementation. The current study explores the influence of the Common Core State Standards on the read-aloud perspectives and practices of primary-grade teachers in schools serving predominantly African American children in economically marginalized communities after adoption of the standards. Participants included 64 primary teachers across five Title I schools who completed an online survey that included open and closed ended questions. Researchers used quantitative and qualitative methods to analyse the data, guided by a critical, sociocultural perspective. Overall, findings point to a disconnect between the intentions of the Common Core State Standards in primary classrooms and the realities of how classroom teachers are interpreting the policy and providing instruction as a result, particularly in schools in low-income communities.

Whole-class read-alouds with diverse children's literature: primary teachers' perspectives and practices

“…Time and curricular demands are two obstacles that frequently interfere with primary teachers' ability to hold IRAs. Research indicates that teachers feel there is insufficient time during the school day to teach all necessary curriculum (Merga & Ledger, 2019) or that there are too many standards to teach, such as the CCSS, or curriculum to teach (Duggins & Acosta, 2019).…”

“…Hence, "the classroom context is never wholly of the [teacher's and children's] making" (Goodman, 1996, p. 346), when it comes to readaloud events. Research (Duggins & Acosta, 2019;Hadjioannou, 2007;Worthy et al, 2013) has illustrated how educational Discourses about high-stakes testing, curricular demands such as the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), and bilingual language policies impact teachers, students, and read-alouds. Some teachers (Duggins & Acosta, 2019;Hadjioannou, 2007;Worthy et al 2013) are able to find ways to maintain their teacher beliefs and convictions and do what they feel is in the best interests of their students despite political and institutional systems and policies.…”

“…Research (Duggins & Acosta, 2019;Hadjioannou, 2007;Worthy et al, 2013) has illustrated how educational Discourses about high-stakes testing, curricular demands such as the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), and bilingual language policies impact teachers, students, and read-alouds. Some teachers (Duggins & Acosta, 2019;Hadjioannou, 2007;Worthy et al 2013) are able to find ways to maintain their teacher beliefs and convictions and do what they feel is in the best interests of their students despite political and institutional systems and policies. Yet other teachers (Duggins & Acosta, 2019) find it challenging to contest these political and institutional structures and to include read-alouds as a best practice to enhance their students' literacy and language development.…”

“…Some teachers (Duggins & Acosta, 2019;Hadjioannou, 2007;Worthy et al 2013) are able to find ways to maintain their teacher beliefs and convictions and do what they feel is in the best interests of their students despite political and institutional systems and policies. Yet other teachers (Duggins & Acosta, 2019) find it challenging to contest these political and institutional structures and to include read-alouds as a best practice to enhance their students' literacy and language development.…”

“…The primary teacher participants in Duggins and Acosta's (2019) online survey indicated there wasn't sufficient time for read-alouds because of the significant number of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) ELA standards they had to include in their reading instruction. Because of the demands of the CCSS, some teachers felt that reading aloud was not an essential academic activity and as such they relegated it to "if there's time" status.…”