Disrupting Deficit Thinking: Reinvigorating Literacy Culture Through Community-Centered Pedagogy

• In Event: Rewriting the Narrative: Justice-Centered Professional Learning to Transform Literacy, Language, & Pedagogy

Abstract

This study investigates how entrenched beliefs and stagnant literacy practices among veteran teachers contribute to a resistant literacy culture within a PreK–5 lab school. Through job-embedded professional learning, community-based educator development, and a Parent Academy, we supported teacher growth and re-centered culturally affirming literacy instruction. Drawing from teacher interviews, surveys, coaching logs, and PLCs, findings reveal increased teacher efficacy, improved literacy outcomes, and shifting attitudes despite initial resistance. While some educators maintained deficit narratives (e.g., “kids just aren’t the same”), others embraced change, catalyzed by administrative leadership and community partnerships. This study offers implications for disrupting teacher resistance, supporting equity-centered literacy, and fostering sustainable collaboration between schools, families, and communities (Gay, 2010; Muhammad, 2020; Paris & Alim, 2017).

Author

• Jhanae Wingfield, Rutgers University - Newark