Matching Students to Books: The Cultural Content of Eighth-Grade Literature Assignments

• In Event: Millennium Hotel Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: Literacy Research With Early Childhood Readers

Abstract

This study uses data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 (ECLS-K), to examine the texts teachers assign to eighth grade students. By comparing student demographic information from the ECLS-K with demographic information from the authors and protagonists of the texts, we can examine teachers’ adjustment of assignments to match students’ backgrounds. This study found that the race/ethnic diversity of texts assigned to eighth graders in the mid-2000s did not match the diversity of the school-age population at that time. Second, considerable “adjustment” or “matching” occurs in eighth grade text assignments, such that minority students are in some cases substantially more likely to read texts with protagonists, and written by authors, that match their race/ethnicity.

Authors

• Laura Northrop, Cleveland State University

• Carlin Borsheim-Black, Central Michigan University

• Sean P. Kelly, University of Pittsburgh