Liberating Literacy: A CRI Framework for Reading Data on Black Children

• In Event: The State of Black Student Literacy Growth and Proficiency in Michigan: A Comprehensive Data Analysis

Abstract

This presentation investigates how literacy assessment data can be reclaimed and reinterpreted within Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Education (CRSE) frameworks to better serve Black children (Johnson, 2018; Ladson-Billings, 1995; Paris & Alim, 2017). The purpose is to examine how benchmark reading data—especially from NWEA MAP—is misread or misapplied in ways that erase students’ cultural assets and reinforce racialized achievement narratives. The presentation offers strategies to align reading assessment with justice-oriented pedagogy and argues that data interpretation must be deeply connected to students’ identities and lived experiences in order to foster true literacy development.

Author

• Aaron Johnson, Archetype Consulting