anuary marks the release of our 2018
What’s Hot in Literacy Report, which polls
literacy professionals around the world to
identify what topics in literacy education
are hot and what topics are important.
This feedback guides ILA’s direction for
the years ahead. By identifying wide gaps
between what educators consider the most
pressing topics and those garnering the
most attention, we can shift our focus onto
the issues that matter most.
If we’ve learned anything from this
year’s report, it’s that we need to be paying
more attention to equity issues. Comments
from last year’s survey inspired us to
broaden the topic of equity to account for
more factors—academic proficiency,
geographic remoteness, socioeconomic
status, gender identity, and more. In addition
to the overarching issue of Equity in Literacy
Education, we asked respondents about
Mother Tongue Literacy, Access to Books
and Content, and Diversity. Together, three
of the four equity-related topics have the
largest gaps. The stories featured in Literacy
Today bring depth and perspective to these
issues.
We’ll hear from educators who are
serving as equity advocates—a literacy
specialist working with struggling readers
in a juvenile hall (page 14), a teacher who
started a Race Matters Committee to
promote anti-bias education in her district
(page 30), and educational consultants
promoting bilingual education for
rural indigenous children in Guatemala
and the United States (page 46). We talk
about democracy in the context of the
digital divide (page 12), language privilege
(page 34), book deserts (page 44), and
more.
Dive into the results of this year’s
What’s Hot survey on page 22, and be
sure to download the full report at
literacyworldwide.org/whatshot.
Warmly,
WHAT MATTERS MOST
Colleen Patrice Clark
Managing Editor
cclark@reading.org
EDITOR’S
NOTE
ILA WEST 2018
San Diego, CA | March 16–17
Literacy: A Pathway to Equity
Register Now!
literacyworldwide.org/ilawest2018
A Special Two-Day PD Event!
Learn how you can close achievement
gaps for minority and low-income
students through literacy education.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Stephen Peters
Glenn Singleton
Valerie Ooka Pang
LITERACY TODAY | January/February 2018 | literacyworldwide.org