The Colonization of Literacy Education: A Story of Reading in One Elementary School (Counterpoints)

Literacy and justice for all? What happens when teachers are faced with educational policies ostensibly focused on ensuring that all children will be reading by third grade? This book focuses on how eight educators in one Texas elementary school navigated the policies of the Texas Reading Initiative, a precursor to the No Child Left Behind Act. Exploring how an educational policy that supported a monolithic, simply defined view of literacy education actually decreased expectations for all students, teachers share their views and provide a basis for understanding how «leaving no child behind» has the potential to lower the bar for many children. The Colonization of Literacy Education reveals how teachers’ instructional practices were subject to educational policy constructions of the literacy capabilities of children of color.