Power of Literacy: Strategies for Effective Reading Instruction

Dear Colleagues,

Individuals directly and indirectly associated with providing literacy instruction have strong positions regarding effective strategies for effective literacy instruction. On both sides of a long-standing divide is whether to focus on reading skills, meaning, and/or practices that validate and sustain students’ funds of knowledge. We believe that the broader question Aukerman and Schudts (2021) ask is, “How can reading instruction best help students develop and flourish as literate human beings in the ways that matter most? (p .85)". What strategies are most effective for achieving equitable literacy outcomes for today’s students? In our current text, Achieving Equity for Students in Poverty: Literacy Instruction that Makes a Difference (Walker-Dalhouse and Risko, in press), we argue that deficit views of students’ capabilities lead to missed opportunities to teach students’ capabilities and histories. We argue that literacy educators can transform instruction to support equity for all students in our schools worldwide. In this Special Issue, we call for papers that address, but are not limited to, the following issues: 

• Strategies used effectively with diverse student populations to promote their literacy development and positive self-identities; 
• Strategies that promote responsiveness to students’ cultural and individual histories; 
• Effective strategies for professional development and teacher education to disrupt  systemized disparities;
• The roles that AI might play in literacy practice and strategy development; 
• Social and /or political issues impact instructional practices and school policies. 

Submissions may include but are not limited to: 

• Immigrant and refugee parents’ home literacy practices;
• Equitable assessment practices and literacy instruction;
• Disciplinary literacy/content literacy instruction;
• Teacher preparation and professional development;
• Multimodal literacy;
• Differentiation;
• Literacy interventions;
• Trauma-informed instruction;
• Literacy intervention for struggling readers. 

Contributions to this Special Issue can include, but are not limited to: 

• Empirical studies (quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods);
• Conceptual and theoretical discussions and/or policy analysis. 

We look forward to your contributions. 

Prof. Dr. Doris Walker-Dalhouse
Prof. Dr. Victoria J. Risko
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Education Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• reading and writing instruction
• poverty
• diverse learners
• teaching effectiveness
• middle school literacy
• elementary literacy
• reading development
• reading motivation