Reading aloud in an era of common core: An exploratory study of the perspectives of primary teachers serving African American children in low-income communities

Within the last decade, two large reading reform efforts have directed state and local state school reading instruction, the Reading First Initiative (2002) and the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (2010). These initiatives have heavily shaped literacy teaching and learning with a focus on disparity reduction in literacy achievement among culturally diverse student groups. Unfortunately, the impact of such policies on student reading achievement and reading instruction is mixed. In other words, there is little consensus or firm evidence to document substantial positive outcomes of reading policy implementation. The current study explores the influence of the Common Core State Standards on the read-aloud perspectives and practices of primary-grade teachers in schools serving predominantly African American children in economically marginalized communities after adoption of the standards. Participants included 64 primary teachers across five Title I schools who completed an online survey that included open and closed ended questions. Researchers used quantitative and qualitative methods to analyse the data, guided by a critical, sociocultural perspective. Overall, findings point to a disconnect between the intentions of the Common Core State Standards in primary classrooms and the realities of how classroom teachers are interpreting the policy and providing instruction as a result, particularly in schools in low-income communities.