Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T09:03:17.455Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - Sociocultural Variation in Literacy Development in Canada and the United States

from Part I - Regional Variations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2023

By
Michael J. Kieffer  and
Rose Vuković
Edited by
Ludo Verhoeven ,
Sonali Nag ,
Charles Perfetti  and
Kenneth Pugh
Ludo Verhoeven
Affiliation:
Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen
Sonali Nag
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Charles Perfetti
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
Kenneth Pugh
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
Get access

Summary

This chapter aims to synthesize evidence from large-scale studies on the magnitude of disparities in students’ literacy development between students from low socioeconomic and language minority backgrounds and their more advantaged counterparts in the United States and Canada, particularly on reading skills. Among various structural inequalities that are relevant to reading, the focus is on socioeconomic status (SES) differences and linguistic diversity (and their inter-relationships). It is explicitly acknowledged that extensive structural inequalities also exist for indigenous peoples in both countries across a range of education, health, and social outcomes. The focus is on language minority learners in this chapter primarily because the large-scale research that has examined disparities in reading development has provided valuable insight regarding students from immigrant backgrounds. By focusing the lens on reading development in language minority learners, we do not intend to minimize or obscure the very real barriers to equitable education in indigenous communities, nor do we intend to convey that structural forces that affect immigrant students can generalize to indigenous communities. Instead, we echo calls to address the sociocultural context of reading development and education more broadly in indigenous communities in both countries.

Keywords

literacydevelopmentlow-SESCanadaUnited Statesminorities
Type
Chapter
Information
Global Variation in Literacy Development , pp. 33 - 55
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aaron, P. G., Joshi, R. M., Gooden, R., & Bentum, K. E. (2008). Diagnosis and treatment of reading disabilities based on the componential model of reading: An alternative to the discrepancy model of LD. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 41, 67–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ambrose, E., & Mudde, C. (2015). Canadian multiculturalism and the absence of the far right. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 21, 213–236. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13537113.2015.1032033.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bloemraad, I. (2006). Becoming a Citizen: Incorporating Immigrants and Refugees in the United States and Canada. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradbury, B., Corak, M., Waldfogel, J., & Washbrook, E. (2011). Inequality during the early years: Child outcomes and readiness to learn in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, and United States. IZA Discussion Papers, No. 6120, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn. https://docs.iza.org/dp6120.pdf.Google Scholar
Bradbury, B., Corak, M., Waldfogel, J., & Washbrook, E. (2015). Too Many Children Left Behind: The US Achievement Gap in Comparative Perspective. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1994). Ecological models of human development. In International Encyclopedia of Education, Vol. 3 pp. 37–43 (2nd edition). Oxford: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Bronfenbrenner, U., & Morris, P. A. (2006). The bioecological model of human development. In Lerner, R. M. & Damon, W. (eds.), Theoretical Models of Human Development (pp. 793–828). (Handbook of Child Psychology, Vol. 1). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Cohen, J. (1992). A power primer. Psychological Bulletin, 112(1), 155.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crawford, J. (2004). Educating English Learners: Language Diversity in the Classroom. Portland, OR: Bilingual Education Services.Google Scholar
D’Angiulli, A., Siegel, L. S., & Hertzman, C. (2004). Schooling, socioeconomic context, and literacy development. Educational Psychology, 24, 867–883.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deacon, S. H., Desrochers, A., & Levesque, K. (2017). Learning to read French. In Verhoeven, L. & Perfetti, C. (eds.)., Learning to Read across Languages and Writing Systems (pp. 243–269). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Duncan, G. J., & Murnane, R. J. (eds.). (2011). Whither Opportunity? Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children’s Life Chances. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Environics Institute for Survey Research. (2019). Canadian Public Opinion about Immigration and Refugees. Toronto, ON: Environics Institute for Survey Research.Google Scholar
Fix, M., Papademetriou, D. G., & Sumption, M. (eds.). (2013). Immigrants in a Changing Labor Market: Responding to Economic Needs. Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute.Google Scholar
Friesen, J., & Krauth, B. (2012). Key Policy Issues in Aboriginal Education: An Evidence-Based Approach. Toronto: Council of Ministers of Education, Canada.Google Scholar
Gamoran, A. (2015). The Future of Educational Inequality in the United States: What Went Wrong, and How Can We Fix It? New York: WT Grant Foundation.Google Scholar
Gandara, P., Rumberger, R., Maxwell-Jolly, J., & Callahan, R. (2003). English learners in California schools: Unequal resources, unequal outcomes. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 11, 36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopkins, M., Thompson, K. D., Linquanti, R., Hakuta, K., & August, D. (2013). Fully accounting for English learner performance: A key issue in ESEA reauthorization. Educational Researcher, 42(2), 101–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joseph, B. (2018). 21 Things You May Not Know about the Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality. Saanichton, BC: Indigenous Relations Press.Google Scholar
Kieffer, M. J. (2008). Catching up or falling behind? Initial English proficiency, concentrated poverty, and the reading growth of language minority learners in the United States. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100, 851–868.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kieffer, M. J. (2011). Converging trajectories: Reading growth in language minority learners and their classmates, kindergarten to grade eight. American Educational Research Journal, 48, 1157–1186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kieffer, M. J. (2012). Before and after third grade: Longitudinal evidence for the shifting role of socioeconomic status in reading growth. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 25, 1725–1746.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kieffer, M. J., & Thompson, K. D. (2018). Hidden progress of multilingual students on NAEP. Educational Researcher, 47(6), 391–398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kieffer, M. J., & Vukovic, R. K. (2012). Components and context: Exploring sources of reading difficulties for language minority learners and native English speakers in urban schools. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 45, 433–452.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kymlicka, W. (2010). The Current State of Multiculturalism in Canada and Research Themes on Canadian Multiculturalism 2008–2010 (Report No: Ci96-112/2010E-PDF). Department of Citizenship and Immigration.Google Scholar
Levy, F., & Murnane, R. J. (2004). The New Division of Labor: How Computers Change the Way We Work. New York: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mancilla-Martinez, J., & Kieffer, M. J. (2010). Language minority learners’ home language use is dynamic. Educational Researcher, 39(7), 545–546.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mancilla-Martinez, J., & Lesaux, N. K. (2011a). Early home language use and later vocabulary development. Journal of Educational Psychology, 103(3), 535.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mancilla‐Martinez, J., & Lesaux, N. K. (2011b). The gap between Spanish speakers’ word reading and word knowledge: A longitudinal study. Child Development, 82(5), 1544–1560.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manis, F. R., Lindsey, K. A., & Bailey, C. E. (2004). Development of reading in grades K–2 in Spanish‐speaking English‐language learners. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 19(4), 214–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mullis, I. V. S., Martin, M. O., Foy, P., & Hooper, M. (2017). PIRLS 2016 International Results in Reading. Chestnut Hill, MA: Boston College, TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center. http://timssandpirls.bc.edu/pirls2016/international-results/.Google Scholar
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2015). The integration of immigrants into American Society: Panel on the integration of immigrants into American society. In Waters, M. C. and Pineau, M. G. (eds.), Committee on Population, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17226/21746.Google Scholar
NCES. (2015). Digest of educational statistics. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d15/tables/dt15_208.20.asp.Google Scholar
NCES. (2016). Education expenditures by country. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cmd.asp.Google Scholar
NCES. (2019). National Indian education study. https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/studies/pdf/2021018.pdf.Google Scholar
OECD. (2006). Where Immigrant Students Succeed: A Comparative Review of Performance and Engagement in PISA 2003. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264023611-en.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orfield, G., & Lee, C. (2005). Why Segregation Matters: Poverty and Educational Inequality. Los Angeles: University of California Los Angeles, The Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles. http://escholarship.org/uc/item/4xr8z4wb.Google Scholar
Paris, S. G. (2005). Reinterpreting the development of reading skills. Reading Research Quarterly, 40(2), 184–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reardon, S. F. (2011). The widening academic achievement gap between the rich and the poor: New evidence and possible explanations. In Duncan, G. J. & Murnane, R. J. (eds.), Whither Opportunity? Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children’s Life Chances (pp. 91–116). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Saunders, W. M., & Marcelletti, D. J. (2013). The gap that can’t go away: The catch-22 of reclassification in monitoring the progress of English learners. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 35(2), 139–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seymour, P. H., Aro, M., & Erskine, J. M. (2003). Foundation literacy acquisition in European orthographies. British Journal of Psychology, 94(2), 143–174.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shonkoff, J. P., Garner, A. S., Siegel, B. S., et al. (2012). The lifelong effects of early childhood adversity and toxic stress. Pediatrics, 129(1), e232–e246.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Snow, C. E., Burns, M. S., & Griffin, P. (eds.) (1998). Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Stats Canada. (2016). Back to school … by the numbers. www.statcan.gc.ca/eng/dai/smr08/2016/smr08_210_2016#a8.Google Scholar
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (2015). Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future: Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2015/trc/IR4-7-2015-eng.pdf.Google Scholar
UNESCO [United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization]. (2016). Country profiles for the United States and Canada. http://uis.unesco.org/country/us and http://uis.unesco.org/country/ca.Google Scholar
Washbrook, E., Waldfogel, J., Bradbury, B., Corak, M., & Ghanghro, A. A. (2012). The development of young children of immigrants in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Child Development, 83(5), 1591–1607.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yoshikawa, H., Raver, C. C., & Morris, P. (2016). Can Universal Pre-K Work? Education Solutions Initiative White Paper. New York: New York University. http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/e/i2/edsolutions/201609/1PreK.pdf.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×