Making Reading Relevant through the Power of Text For African American & Latino Students!

There is a significant academic achievement gap between African-American, Latino and Caucasian students.  One way to reduce this gap is to help struggling readers who attend public schools improve their reading skills.  But, to do this, struggling African-American & Latino readers need to be exposed to books that relate to their lives, capture their interest, and shape positive life outcomes, as well as address academic progress. 

Such books must be intellectually exciting and challenging, as well as help students use literacy skills and strategies. These books should:

1.  Promote and engage students in discussions that analyze reality and brainstorm strategies for overcoming social, economic, and political barriers to success;

2.  Take into account African-American & Latino cultural characteristics;

3.  Develop skills, improve test scores, and address students’ identities;

4.  Describe successful African-American & Latino role models to provide motivation, direction, and hope for the future.

Once meaningful reading material that meets the above
criteria has been found, teachers need professional training to help them use
the texts effectively with African-American & Latino students.

Using Appropriate and Meaningful Texts

A wide variety of meaningful texts must be available to teachers and students and form the core of the curriculum. The texts must be used in ways that make them relevant to the students’ lives. Texts may be used in their entirety or partially. One 8th grade teacher used David Walker’s Appeal, a radical anti-slavery document, to pose the question, “Should African-Americans integrate with or separate from mainstream culture?”  Later, following extensive discussions on the topic, they read Martin Luther King, Jr.’s works on integrating with the mainstream. They continued reading other texts and discussed their personal places in society, the roles they play in creating their futures, and the roles teachers, schools, and the community play.

In his novel Convicted in the Womb, Carl Upchurch states, “The [texts] taught me how to look at myself. [They] told me regardless of my condition, regardless of the circumstances I came from, I was a legitimate human being and a child of God. But I also learned that society considered me inferior because of my color—and considered any rights and privileges I have as a black man to be the gift of white men. I decided that I had the responsibility to stand up for people who hadn't yet learned to think of themselves as human beings. (p. 92)” When texts like these are used in caring, supportive, and intellectually challenging classrooms, they provide students with resources they need for resilience in life.  Not only does this improve the reading skills of African-American & Latino students, but it can also improve success in life.

African-American & Latino students need to be read to, need to read consistently throughout their school years, and read meaningful books and texts that relate to their lives and culture, capture their interest, and shape positive life outcomes, as well as address academic achievement.  Only then will the academic achievement gap start to get smaller.