Commentary: Teaching expertise is the best antidote for educational inequities

This article discusses teaching expertise as the best antidote for educational inequities. Economically disadvantaged and minority students are over-represented in the population of those experiencing reading difficulties, and therefore the societal scourges of systemic racism and persistent economic inequalities are to blame. Closer examination of these variables, however, suggests that minority students attend under-resourced schools in greater numbers than white students and schooling itself predicts outcomes more than race alone. In other words, students who attend poor schools in unsupported environments are at risk for academic failure-no matter their race. While chronic inequities in schooling associated with race and poverty are currently receiving more attention, a substantial number of middle class and more advantaged students are also not learning to read proficiently. What do these children's experiences have in common with their less advantaged peers? They also are not receiving effective instruction, even though their schools have more material resources and fewer excuses for low reading achievement. There are several explanations for this chronic state of inadequate and ineffective reading and language instruction. First, the schools of education have been slow to embrace the science of reading on a wide enough scale. Second, faulty ideas about learning to read are deeply engrained in teacher culture and are perpetuated by publishers who will sell whatever consumers will buy, regardless of evidence for effectiveness. Third, the persistence of misconceived practices can be attributed to the fact that teaching reading is by nature very complex and challenging. For shifts to occur in the roles of school psychologists and other support personnel, professional learning opportunities must be expanded to include in-depth understanding of reading acquisition, reading disabilities, and research-aligned instructional practices. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).