Special Issues, Volume 1: Racial Literacy

Edited by Detra Price-Dennis, this first volume of Special Issues: Racial Literacy gathers some of the most compelling and practical recent articles across NCTE journals, addressing the importance of racial literacy and its implications for curriculum, pedagogy, and policy. 

There’s a great deal of uncertainty, discord, and increased volatility across a number of critical institutions in our society. Each day on social media and TV news outlets we read, listen to, and/or watch events unfold that are linked to political, economic, health, legal, and educational inequities that can be traced to racist ideologies and practices. Public schools across the country are being subjected to pending state legislation and new laws that seek to limit how race—among other markers of identity—can be taught in K–12 classrooms. 

Editor Detra Price-Dennis has curated this collection to show how teaching from a racial literacy perspective is in conversation with antiracist, culturally responsive, equity-oriented frameworks that uplift curriculum design and instructional strategies. These articles can help educators (re)imagine the classroom as a space that supports the development of racial literacy skills and practices with their students.

About the Special Issue series:
Most teachers and students across the country are grappling with several important issues. We hear from many educators who are looking for compelling and engaging approaches racial literacy, critical media literacy, and trauma-informed teaching. 

NCTE is responding to these needs with Special Issues, a series of books designed to directly address these pressing topics in K-12 and college classrooms today. The first volumes collect content on these topics from across all of NCTE’s journals in one place, to make the most relevant material accessible and practical. 

Edited by expert practitioners in the field, each volume contains teaching tips to help implement these approaches in classrooms.