Reading between the lines and beyond the pages: A culturally relevant approach to literacy teaching

The current demographic shifts in the public school student population (particularly in urban areas and large states such as California, Texas, and New York) have forced educators to examine more closely the academic performance of students from various cultural, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds. With the exception of some youngsters of Asian descent, students of color are not performing on par with their White counterparts on literacy measures or other indicators of school success (Irvine, 1990; Quality Education for Minorities Project, 1990). The seriousness of this disparity in academic performance and literate competence is exacerbated by a range of social and economic problems facing African-American students. For example, the dropout rate for inner-city youth is 36 percent and rising (Whitaker, 1988); at the same time, African-American youngsters are twice as likely to be suspended from school as White youngsters (Edelman, 1987). African-American students comprise 17 percent of the nation's public school population, yet 41 percent of the special education population (Kunjufu, 1984). In addition, one-third of all African-American families live below the poverty level of $10,989 per year for a family of four (Whitaker, 1988). The stark contrast between the academic performance of student of color—African-American students in particular—and the general White population has been highlighted in several stud-