A social justice perspective. Submission deadline: August 1, 2021

Details

The science of reading is the consensus of research conducted across multiple disciplines over many years that informs how children learn to read, the types of instructional practices that work best for most students, as well as how to address the needs of students who struggle to learn to read.

This body of convergent evidence strongly indicates that approximately 95% of children can be taught to read at or approaching grade level, including students with dyslexia or other learning disabilities (Moats, 2020). Despite this compelling evidence, 2/3 of children cannot read proficiently in this country, and these data illustrate persistent gaps in reading proficiency across race, English learners, disability, and socioeconomic status (NCES, 2019).

The most fundamental responsibility of schools is to teach students to read. The implications of not learning to read proficiently are profound, including increased risk for school dropout, anxiety, depression, and low self-concept. Adults without basic literacy skills are more likely to be un- or under-employed and incarcerated (Gibbons, 2021).

All these outcomes are worse for our students of color and those from economically and culturally diverse groups. Ensuring that all students have the opportunity to learn to read requires that the science of reading is implemented in all schools across the nation and that educators are equipped with the knowledge and skills to teach reading and address reading challenges.

This special issue of School Psychology will be devoted to publishing results from participatory action research, nation-wide or state-wide policy efforts, systematic reviews (including meta-analyses), implementation and empirical studies describing the ways in which the science of reading is bridging the practice to research gap with a social justice lens in an effort to advance and improve student, classroom, schoolwide, or system-level outcomes for children and youth.

The special issue will be edited by Kymyona Burk and Jan Hasbrouck and is slated to be published in July 2022.

Manuscript length for the special section will be determined based on the quality and number of proposals but is targeted to not exceed the journal standard of 6,000 to 7,500 words, inclusive of all tables, figures, and references.

Submitted manuscripts will be given blind peer review, as per usual journal policy, prior to a final decision on publication.

Submit through the journal’s manuscript submission portal the “Special Section – Science of Reading” article type.

Please direct all inquiries to Kymyona Burk at or Jan Hasbrouck.