CFP: Science of Reading Policies: International Impacts and Impressions

EPAA/AAPE Call for Papers

Science of Reading Policies: International Impacts and Impressions 

Guest Editors: 

Rachael Gabriel, University of Connecticut, United States

Danielle V. Dennis, University of Rhode Island, United States

Education Policy Analysis Archives/Archivos Analíticos de Políticas Educativas/Arquivos Analíticos de Políticas Educativas (EPAA/AAPE; ISSN 1068-2341) announces a call for papers for a special issue, Science of Reading Policies: International Impacts and Impressions.

Over the past decade, a trend towards state and national policies aimed at reforming the teaching of beginning literacy has spread from the UK to the US, Canada and now towards Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand. Though pervasive, these policies are controversial, with significant media and intermediary engagement in advocacy and implementation for a body of research called The Science of Reading (SOR). SOR is not only a body of research with implications for classroom practice. It is also a movement and a branding tool that has had significant implications for the way educators and public schools are positioned as a policy problem to be reformed (Gabriel, 2019). At the school level, reading-focused policies do not only influence pedagogy, but every part of the infrastructure for learning: curriculum, assessment, professional development and leadership (Woulfin & Gabriel, 2020). As such, scholars have raised concerns about issues from privatization, media representations, and political interest convergence to systematic racial and linguistic oppression in K-12 classrooms and teacher preparation programs. 

Despite the initial appeal of a science-informed approach to pedagogy, literacy researchers have raised questions about the relevance of research that has not included specific consideration for multilingual learners, or racial, ethnic, cultural or geographic minorities. Meanwhile, policy scholars have raised questions about the ways that existing research is translated into practices and materials that then shape students’ opportunities to develop literacy. Recent reports from early adopters of related policies in the UK have raised questions about the impact on reading achievement, motivation, engagement, and academic growth in general. The goal of this special issue is to focus a broad community of scholars on understanding the outcomes of this wave of common policy activity.

Given that the introduction of reading-specific legislation has been staggered over the past 8-10 years, there are lessons that can be learned about short-term and interim impacts of this trend of reading policies aimed at improving K-3 reading instruction by applying SOR across countries where literacy is primarily developed in English. We aim to solicit manuscripts that consider a range of outcomes associated with the Science of Reading movement across English-speaking countries, and to consider the accumulation of early and interim outcomes across contexts to develop implications for implementation guidance and policymaking.

Abstracts will be accepted in English, and all articles will be evaluated through a double-blind process. More information about the EPAA guidelines can be found at https://epaa.asu.edu/index.php/epaa/about/submissions.

Submission Information: Interested contributors are invited to submit structured abstracts aligned with the special issue theme for review by. Abstracts should be submitted electronically through the EPAA website, in the section Science of Reading Policies and follow the Journal’s submission guidelines.

Timeline:

Abstract submission deadline: March 15, 2024 [Editors will consider additional submissions to accommodate those researching emerging policies until May 1]

Editorial decisions (on abstracts): May 1, 2024

Invitations for full papers: May 1-15, 2024

Submission deadline for invited full papers: September 30, 2024

Review of papers; feedback and decisions sent: November 30, 2024

Revised manuscript deadline: February 1, 2025

Anticipated publication: May 2025

Questions concerning this call for papers should be directed to Rachael Gabriel (rachael.gabriel@uconn.edu) and Danielle V. Dennis (danielle_dennis@uri.edu)

References

Gabriel, R. (2019). Converting to privatization: A discourse analysis of dyslexia policy narratives. American Educational Research Journal, 57 (1) 355-358. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831219861945  

Woulfin, S., & Gabriel, R. (2020). Infrastructure for reading improvement. Reading Research Quarterly, 55(1).  https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.339