Chad's wife recently texted him that his nephew, Cameron, loved the Dog Man book Chad bought him this summer so much that he bought another one at his school's book fair this year. As you can imagine, this brought Chad, a literacy-loving educator, much joy. But the incident also helped Chad recognize how his nephew's early literacy experiences differ from those of many similar age children around the United States. Chad's nephew is privileged to have family members who can put high-interest texts into his hands. He is privileged that his family can provide funds for him to continue building his personal library. In various years, Cameron may or may not receive extended amounts of time to read texts of his choosing within school (depending on which teacher he has), but his family will ensure he receives this opportunity outside of school regardless of what happens within.
It will take the careful confluence of all these privileges to put Max on the path of being a lifelong reader. But it should not have to be this way. A student's access to a high-quality, high-interest literacy education should not rely on privilege.
An Issue of Equity
More than just an issue of privilege, ensuring students have meaningful access to texts they can and want to read, as well as time to read self-selected texts during the school day, is an issue of justice and equity. The journey to becoming lifelong readers and having academic success involves the culmination of a variety of factors, and we believe that access and choice are significant factors supporting equitable literacy opportunities for all. As educators, we have a responsibility to bring those factors together for all kids, to identify and remove any barriers between our students and their reading engagement.
In our experience—as former teachers and now an assistant principal (Chad) and a literacy coach and author (Donalyn)—we've seen that the students who disproportionately lack access to texts, time to read, and choice at school are disproportionally students of color, indigenous children, disabled students, and those from under-resourced communities.
Educators and caregivers cannot claim commitment to the betterment of all children and ignore this systemic inequity. We must ask ourselves: Who has literacy opportunities in our communities and who doesn't? Why is literacy support a privilege instead of a right for too many young people? How can we offer the conditions and resources children need to become engaged readers?
Our observations at schools where we've worked and visited have revealed how important it is to foster students' reading engagement through meaningful access and choice. We don't know the needs of every community in terms of encouraging young readers, but we've seen what a difference increasing access and offering reading choices can make, and how some schools make it work.
It Starts with Access
As advocates for young people's reading lives, we recognize that book choice is dependent on access. When school and classroom libraries lack current, relevant, and engaging books for children and teens to read—and when books aren't abundant in the home—choice is pointless. Choose from what?
Get Them to the Library!
As a child, Donalyn kept her reading life fed with her library card. Every Saturday for years, she and her sister walked to the library to take out new books. She didn't realize what a privilege it was to have that library card until she grew up and became a teacher.
In her early years of teaching, Donalyn expressed frustration when her new students admitted they didn't read anything over the summer. Why, she wondered, didn't their parents and caregivers take them to the public library? It's free! Donalyn has learned that for many families, the public library isn't so free. Tangible obstacles, such as reduced library hours, fee and fine policies, residency requirements, and transportation challenges, limit public library access. Some caregivers worry their children will lose materials or won't be able to return books on time—racking up fines.
Schools can work with families to determine barriers and partner with local library directors to address them. For instance, several school districts, like Houston, have forged partnerships with their public library systems to provide all students with library cards, using only their student ID numbers. In addition, many large municipal libraries, including systems in Dallas and Chicago, have waived or modified their library fine programs in order to better serve their patrons.
Chad's own school, in northern Mississippi, addressed the issue by inviting the local library's children's director to speak with families and help them sign up for library cards at the school's annual family literacy night. This introduction to the public library in a setting familiar to students proved beneficial to families. Many students live within walking distance of the community's public library, and they now utilize it after school and during the summer.
Send Books Home—and Strengthen School Libraries
When working with young readers who need extra reading support, prioritize home book access. Without books at home, it's difficult for young readers to read much during the evenings, weekends, or school breaks. Encouraging students to "read whatever they want at home" as homework or for summer reading assignments presumes they own reading materials in the first place. Children from middle income homes may have 10 regular places in their daily lives where they can get a book to read, while children from lower-income homes may only have one or two access points—their schools and public libraries (Neuman & Celano, 2012).
Many schools hold book drives and request donations from local retailers to bring in books, which they then offer to all students, finding non-stigmatizing ways to get texts to kids who need them the most. They might also let students check out school library materials during the summer months.
School administrators have power over how we allocate funds within our schools. Let's use some of those funds to get books to kids, both through the school library and through providing books students can keep if their homes aren't rich in books. During the budgeting process at Chad's school, the librarian and school literacy coach always consider students' access to texts at home. The power to transform education extends beyond our schools' walls, and so does our responsibility to eliminate barriers contributing to inequity.
By building relationships with families and considering the whole child, schools must determine whether their students have access to books at home. Do students and families have library cards? Are there opportunities throughout the school year to send books home or give them away during family literacy nights and school events? How can schools and community leaders forge partnerships to increase and secure funding for school and public libraries?
Don't assume enrolling students in online text databases will meet their access needs. According to a 2015 U.S. Census Bureau Survey, more than 20 percent of homes lack consistent access to the Internet, wireless devices, or desktop computers (Ryan & Lewis, 2017). Creative solutions exist: In Chicago, public libraries let patrons check out hotspots to provide patrons reliable, free access.
Balancing Choice with Guidance
Providing students meaningful, consistent access begins with getting physical books into their hands, but it doesn't end there. We must be sure entrenched instructional practices and beliefs don't further limit young readers' access to the books they might read. Access supports choice only when students have the full opportunity to read what they wish; if only some books are approved or promoted, it doesn't matter how many books sit on the shelves.
So let's balance the need to assign specific texts and books for academic learning with authentic opportunities for students to explore their own reading interests. Reflecting on how schools we've worked in have encouraged (or discouraged) students' self-selection in reading materials, we've seen every scenario—from no choice at all to free choice without support. In some classrooms, choice is tightly controlled. Students must read books from a specific genre, author, or reading level; they cannot read picture books, graphic novels, and so on. Under these circumstances, some young readers are left with only one reading choice they control—the choice not to read much. When the pendulum swings too far in the opposite direction, well-meaning teachers and librarians turn kids loose in the library without effective modeling and support for evaluating and selecting books.
Developing readers benefit from adult mentors who model and teach the knowledge and skills required to read well, as well as the orientations and habits of lifelong readers. They also need frequent, low-risk opportunities to preview, share and discuss books with their peers. As little as 10 minutes of a daily discussion on books increases readers' comprehension and engagement (Nystrand, 2006). Classroom teachers should set expectations for certain general kinds of texts to be read in whole-class and in long- and short-term groups (like book clubs), plus independent reading opportunities—and then provide students maximum freedom within these expectations.
Working with Families
Although this fact doesn't absolve educators of responsibility for fostering reading habits at school, families remain the strongest influence on the development of lifelong reading habits (Pinsker, 2019). Schools and families can work together to help students embrace reading. How can we honor home literacies while supporting students' academic literacy development?
One way is for educators to talk with families often about the realities of reading at elementary-school age and the centrality of access and options, as well as about what their child reads. Parents need to know how important choice in reading is; for instance, according to Scholastic's Kids and Family Reading Report (across all 13 years of its administration), readers between 6–17 years old say choice is the most important factor in their reading engagement. Kids also report a decline in reading engagement beginning in 3rd grade, which correlates to the rise in test prep and assigned texts and the decline in free reading and read-alouds (Scholastic, 2019). The literacy coach at Chad's school regularly includes graphics from this Scholastic report in presentations at family engagement nights.
Strengthening the home-to-school connection may mean supporting families' awareness and understanding that all readers and all types of reading are valued within our schools. The parent of one of Chad's students told him she was concerned because her son only wants to read "comic books." After some discussion, Chad recognized that her son is an avid reader of graphic novels.
A Collective Effort
The responsibility to ensure students have access to texts they want to read and encouragement for their choices doesn't belong to any individual or group. It will take the collective effort of caregivers, teachers, librarians, and administrators to eliminate barriers to equity in our schools and our world.
