Culturally Sustaining Literacy Practices: What's Possible in the Elementary Classroom

ABSTRACT The educational landscape in the United States continues to grow increasingly diverse, with students bringing multiple cultures and languages into elementary classrooms. This rapid change in demographics has caused tension in schools and classrooms, as students from historically marginalized backgrounds continue to experience inequitable instruction. One way that scholars and teacher educators have sought to increase teachers' ability to work with culturally and linguistically diverse youth is through a framework of culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogies. The purpose of this study is to review literature focused on culturally relevant and sustaining practices in the elementary literacy classroom to highlight the possibilities of what teachers and students can achieve together when teaching and learning are done in a culturally sustaining way.