This article is premised on the idea that storytelling and storytelling pedagogies have material and ethico-political implications for children and those with whom they share the world - in the small moments of their everyday experiences and in how they are read, written, and positioned as inheritors of social worlds and cultural narratives.…

This study focused on the digital design practices of Raul, a 15-year-old participant at a summer video game design camp for adolescents. As Raul developed his original game, "You Will Perish," I wondered what his design process might reveal about (a) the practice of affectively and procedurally literate video game design and (b) the…

This study examined the relationship between using the Ignite by Hatch™ educational gaming system and assessments of the developmental status of young children participating in the 2023 Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) Summer Transition Program. Researchers collected data that describe the extent to which the children engaged…

Young learners were observed in a summer literacy program at a southern university in order to identify and understand literacy entanglements and how they contributed to the way children developed literacy. Data collection consisted of observations, researcher journals with extensive field notes, and a collection of artifacts relating to…

This article addresses tensions between how researchers have conceptualized and operationalized adolescent reading motivation and how a group of Black girl readers perceive and enact reading motivation. Through a grounded theory approach, this qualitative study offers an initial exploration into mapping a race-reimaged reading motivation construct…

While the influence of digital technologies on literacy expression has long been a central concern of literacy studies, the proliferation of digital platforms across contemporary life has prompted increased scholarly attention to their influence on literacy. How, this scholarship asks, do platforms' interfaces, algorithms, and business models…

Entanglements among humans, nonhuman objects, and spatial matter in a research site necessitate greater attention to the interwoven and sometimes invisible connections across relational bodies. This piece comments on how reevaluating approaches to participant observations in qualitative research can lead to better understandings of the dynamic…

This study explored the literacy engagement of Hispanic rising seventh grade adolescents during a summer literacy program. Using a participatory social justice mixed methods design (Creswell & Plano-Clark, 2018), students' voices were used to design and refine an instructional model proposed to increase their level of engagement in literacy…

This action research study examined the impact of a summer literacy program on summer reading setback. Gaining Ground is a summer intervention program designed primarily for economically disadvantaged students in Grades K-5. By granting access to self-selected books and implementing project-based curriculum, Gaining Ground aims to improve reading…

Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) in an experiential learning setting can provide undergraduate and graduate students opportunities to learn about other professional practices, address patient/individual needs, and learn to work in a team setting that is respective of many disciplines. The current study examined the impact of an…

Partners United for Research Pathways Oriented to Social Justice in Education is a partnership between a university research training program and a Children's Defense Fund Freedom Schools® site in north Florida. It addresses the lack of demographic diversity among doctoral students in education. Emphasis is on researcher positionality and building…

The authors detail how 2,000 teachers facilitating summer camps for 8,000 students across a state for three years engaged families in authentic literacy practices. Building relationships, considering families' needs and strengths, and providing authentic learning experiences linked with literacy led to positive changes in family engagement and…

This Spotlight will help readers investigate one state's plan to improve literacy with daily summer reading instruction; review how teachers can better support struggling older readers; gain expert insights into strategies for boosting reading proficiency; evaluate the merits of audiobooks for improving reading engagement; explore how short bursts…

Partners United for Research Pathways Oriented to Social Justice in Education is a partnership between a university research training program and a Children's Defense Fund Freedom Schools® site in north Florida. It addresses the lack of demographic diversity among doctoral students in education. Emphasis is on researcher positionality and building…

We explored how a group of 105 diverse middle-school students self-assessed their work as readers and writers during a summer enrichment program. Findings from the study revealed hauntings related to youth perceptions of language and literacy, evidence of a ghostly presence of standard language ideology. In the self-assessments, youth discussed…