Connecting the science of reading to social justice: Introduction to the special section

The science of reading is the consensus of research conducted across multiple disciplines over many years that informs how children learn to read, the types of instructional practices that work best for most students, as well as how to address the needs of students who struggle to learn to read. This body of convergent evidence strongly indicates that approximately 95% of children can be taught to read at or approaching grade level, including students with dyslexia or other learning disabilities (Moats, 2020). Despite this compelling evidence, two-thirds of children cannot read proficiently in this country, and these data illustrate persistent gaps in reading proficiency across race, English learners, disability, and socioeconomic status (National Center for Education Statistics, 2022). The implications of not learning to read proficiently are profound, including increased risk for school dropout, anxiety, depression, and low self-concept. All these outcomes are worse for our students of color and those from economically and culturally diverse groups. Ensuring that all students have the opportunity to learn to read requires that the science of reading is implemented in all schools across the nation and that educators are equipped with the knowledge and skills to teach reading and address reading challenges. This article introduces a special section devoted to studies describing the ways in which the science of reading is bridging the practice to research gap with a social justice lens in an effort to advance and improve student, classroom, school-wide, or system-level outcomes for children and youth. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).