Page 4 - In Focus Newsletter_April 2019

CASDA EdCasts Episode 7

Instruction for Equity: Culturally Responsive Text Sets for Literacy and

Content Engagement

This month’s EdCast highlights the work that will be explored at “Building Culturally
Responsive Literacy Using Text Sets,” a workshop that will be facilitated by Kerri

Messler, K-12 English Language Arts and Library Coordinator for Schenectady City
Schools and Carmella Parente, K-12 Social Studies, World Language, and Family
Consumer Science Coordinator for Schenectady City Schools. Messler and Parente
discuss the Interactive Strategies Approach-Extended (ISA-X) literacy intervention,

developed by UAlbany Child Research and Study Center researchers Lynn Gelzheiser,
Laura Hallgren-Flynn, Margaret Connors and Donna Scanlon, and how they adapted to
meet the needs of Schenectady’s diverse student body and support their district’s
commitment to equity, multiculturalism and social justice. Going beyond

representation, this work aims to help students access rigorous content and engage in
discussion and critical thinking to support achievement.

Download the podcast here or by visiting www.casdany.org/podcast.

For additional research on the topic, check out Marquette University scholar Kathleen F.
Clark’s article “Investigating the Effects of Culturally Relevant Texts on African

American Struggling Readers’ Progress,” in which it is “revealed that the
comprehension growth of children who exclusively read culturally relevant texts
significantly outpaced that of peers who did not read them as well as those who read
them intermittently.” These gains were realized with just 90 minutes of weekly

instruction. Considering most schools are devoting upwards of 700 minutes of class
time each week to literacy instruction, integrating culturally relevant texts is quite
feasible.

Keep the conversation going by heading to www.casdany.org/forum and joining our
EdCasts Exchange. Sign up with your email and create a password, then post comments
and discuss topics relavant to you with your peers.

" T o c r e a t e a t e x t s e t t a k e s s o m e c a r e f u l

s e l e c t i o n o f t h e b o o k s , a n d w e a v i n g i n t h e
s e q u e n c e v e r y p u r p o s e f u l l y s o t h a t a l l s t u d e n t s
a r e g o i n g t o g a i n s o m e k n o w l e d g e a n d l e v e l
t h e p l a y i n g f i e l d . "
- C a r m e l l a P a r e n t e , K - 1 2 S o c i a l S t u d i e s , W o r l d

L a n g u a g e , a n d F a m i l y C o n s u m e r S c i e n c e
C o o r d i n a t o r f o r S c h e n e c t a d y C i t y S c h o o l s