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Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 53(2)

October 2009
doi:10.1598/JA AL.53.2.1
© 2009 International Reading Association
(pp. 96 –104)

c o m m e n t a r y

Critical Research and the Future


of Literacy Education

Ernest Morrell

A ll over the globe those who “have” are outperforming the “have-nots”
in literacy education, with serious implications. Generally, the differences in
achievement are easily predictable along the lines of race, class, gender, and
language background (College Board, 2005; Perie, Grigg, & Donahue, 2005).
Certainly there are structural and cultural contexts, including inequitable ac-
cess to resources and institutionalized racism, that problematize the concept of
the achievement gap, but these differences in academic performance still carry
significant social, economic, and political consequences. At a time when we
need to expand our literacy research horizons to address issues of equity and
excellence in literacy education, research practices are often narrowly focused
on large standardized measures that make it difficult to tease out the nuances
of exemplary classroom practice. In the United States, for instance, many state
departments of education rank schools only according to aggregate test scores.
These standardized tests are generally taken in the spring and the results are
made available the following school year. Schools that perform poorly are
often threatened with takeover or the loss of resources, and administrators are
challenged to offer more basic and traditional curricula delivered through a
teacher-centered pedagogy to increase their scores by a number of percentage
points.
Taken as a whole, these tests do not tell us a great deal about what is hap-
pening or what is possible in language and literacy education. They do not
help us understand how teacher experience, institutionalized racism, cultur-
ally alienating curricula, or test anxiety affect the scores of schools serving
populations that are largely nonwhite or low income. What’s more, the tests
do not tell us about the tremendous opportunity gaps that exist between the
wealthiest and the poorest students (Hilliard, 2003). They do not tell us about
what is working in settings where individual students or classrooms are excel-
ling; furthermore, these tests tell us nothing about how teachers informally
96
assess students throughout the academic year, how they make connections be-
tween students’ lived experiences and the world of academic literacy, or how
students become motivated to see themselves as intellectuals and empowered
readers and writers. Such tests do not measure the ex- measures of achievement and the actual opportunities
tent to which our students are becoming powerful, to learn that have been provided for students. In other
humane, culturally affirmed, and engaged citizens. words, the challenge is ours, as a field, to figure out
In response to our most recent literacy crisis, how to better educate students. Regardless of termi-
the U.S. government and professional collabora- nology, Hilliard contended that higher quality teach-
tives such as the National Reading Panel (National ing is needed to produce excellence in classrooms
Institute of Child Health and Human Development, for students that have been historically underserved.
2000) and the National Research Council (2005) Quite simply, these students need to achieve higher
have called for more scientific research in literacy forms of excellence if they are to exist as powerfully
education. That is, policymakers and certain mem- informed and affirmed humans. Hilliard, in this vein,
bers of our field feel as though the only valuable re- was tapping into a long history of African American
search is conducted via randomized experiments that education that associated literacy learning in schools
tell us, essentially, how certain curricular reforms af- with the project of human freedom (Anderson, 1988;
fect aggregate achievement as measured by the same Perry, 2003). Critical research, I argue, can help us to
sorts of problematic standardized outcomes or by identify quality teaching in literacy classrooms even as
scores on artificial assessments designed by teams of it helps us to refine (or even redefine) our notions of
university researchers. Although standardized mea- curricula, pedagogy, literacy, and achievement.
sures provide an important perspective on the per-
formance of young people in schools, it is only one What Is Critical Research?
perspective, and taken out of context this perspective Critical theory is a term that has been with us for nearly
can be extremely problematic—both in how it posi- a century now. First coined by the philosophers of the
tions certain groups of students and in how it limits Frankfurt School in the 1930s, critical theory chal-
the discussion of possible alternatives to traditional lenged the biased nature of all knowledge, specifically
classroom literacy practices (Pressley, 2001). In the knowledge that was transmitted via dominant insti-
end, we are still left with very few images of the tutions such as schools and the media. Proponents of
powerful literacy classroom to help us understand critical theory such as Adorno (2002), Horkheimer
the challenges that teachers and students face and the (2002), and Marcuse (1964) argued that the culture in-
conditions that turn tragedies into triumphs. dustries of their time served to deceive the public and
In essence, research in K–12 literacy education create a population that would readily accept the op-

Critical Research and the Future of Literacy Education


needs to elucidate life in classrooms for the poor and pression of the masses for the benefits of the few. These
for members of historically marginalized groups, and ideas have been taken up variously by sociologists and
it needs to shed light on what is happening in pow- theorists throughout the 20th century who have at-
erful learning spaces for students—when literacy in- tempted to explain the reproduction of social, racial,
struction is both identity affirming and academically gender, and educational inequality. They have also in-
enriching. I argue for a specific conception of research, formed and been reshaped by other schools of thought
what I and others call critical research, as an example of such as feminism, Postcolonialism, and critical race
the kind of work that needs to be undertaken in our theory, which analyze knowledge and power through
field if we are going to be able to provide informa- the lenses of race, nation, and gender. These groups
tion to teachers, teacher educators, and policymakers borrowed from the ideas of the Frankfurt School
that will lead to changes in practice and outcome that to explain current inequalities, but they also theo-
eliminate the education opportunity gap. By educa- rized agency and resistance through consciousness-
tion opportunity gap, which I distinguish from achieve- raising and the development of a critical citizen who
ment gap, I am referring to the work of Asa Hilliard could use her knowledge to act against oppressive re-
(2003), who argued for a shift in perception of the gimes in the struggle for her own freedom and hu- 97
achievement gap away from searching for deficien- manity. Educators who have been taken with the ideas
cies in student intelligence toward questioning the of critical theory have developed critical pedagogy.
Paulo Freire (1970), Peter McLaren Critical research is also important because, in the
(2002), Antonia Darder (1991), bell context of classroom research, it questions the ways
Critical research is hooks (1994), and Henry Giroux classrooms are constructed depending on the position
important because (1988) have ushered in a generation of those who are doing the research, as well as the
those most affected of scholars who have discussed the ownership of knowledge. Critical research generally
ways that educational institutions focuses on the rationale, the design, and the imple-
by the problem are
in the West have served the domi- mentation of curricula and pedagogies that will pro-
involved in doing the nant interests and have outlined duce excellence and empowerment for all students.
actual research. the theories of powerful teaching This approach, I argue, represents an ideal future for
that help members of marginal- literacy education research. In the critical and careful
ized populations learn literacy and analysis of theoretically informed praxis with youth
civic engagement skills that will allow them to more is an approach that is systematic and evidence-based,
effectively navigate, resist, and ultimately transform and yet locally initiated and intended to enact posi-
institutions of power. tive academic, identity, and social outcomes for stu-
There are many in the field of literacy education dents. By this I mean that it is possible to draw from
with whom these ideas of critical theory and critical critical theories and local knowledge to design inno-
pedagogy resonate. However, identifying those suc- vative curricula and pedagogies that can be system-
cessful, engaging practices in K–12 literacy education atically analyzed by students, teachers, and university
requires an approach to research that is theoretically researchers.
consistent. Mainstream research methodologies limit Finally, critical research is important because it
our approaches to understanding the possible connec- balances attention to academic literacy development
tions between critical pedagogy and literacy achieve- with concern about literacy development for active
ment by limiting the types of questions we ask, the and engaged citizenship in the multicultural, mul-
participants in the research process, the conceptions of tilinguistic, multimodal world of the 21st century.
powerful literacy, and the desired outcomes of literacy Critical research can help us to refine and expand our
education. If we are truly to understand, or even to horizons as researchers as we look for outcomes in
develop these connections, we need to be involved in classrooms that may not be captured by traditional
October 2009

critical research. measures of achievement. I argue that in research that


Critical research is important because those most looks for literacies of engaged citizenship, we will still
affected by the problem are involved in doing the ac- be able to identify the development of concrete litera-
tual research (Kincheloe & McLaren, 1998; Morrell, cy skills as we also identify the strategies that students
53(2)

2004, 2008). Rather than rely solely on the perspec- are using to critique and act more powerfully upon
tives and analyses of trained university researchers, I their social world.
Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy

contend that we need to have teachers and students


centrally involved in data collection and analysis if The Role of Critical Research
we are truly to document and understand effective in Literacy Education
literacy praxis. As everyday participants in classroom Critical research methodologies can play an impor-
life, teachers and students are able to provide insights tant role in literacy research. A place where we have
and observations that complement and ultimately in- the most to learn as a field is in the possible transla-
form the perspectives of university trained research- tions and applications of critical theory and critical
ers who are usually more removed from the life of pedagogy to classroom literacy practice. We generate
the classrooms they study. Teachers and students are a great deal of theory in literacy education about how
also key stakeholders in education and, as intellectu- students learn, how they learn to read and write, and
98
als, they deserve to play a role in addressing oppressive what teachers can do to help students who have not
conditions and radical possibilities in classrooms and been given sufficient opportunities to acquire the aca-
schools. demic literacies that they need. All practice, of course,
revolves around theory, even when we are not neces- that leave audiences of colleagues, administrators,
sarily able to explain our actions in a theoretical way. parents, community members, and students confident
However, when we are not able to fully theorize our that the claims are justified. Critical theory, by virtue
actions, we may also miss the contradictions between of its stance opposing ultimate truths, is not exempt
what we intend and what actually occurs. from supporting its claims about the relative merits of
Critical research holds the potential to provide the pedagogical practices when it enters into the world of
missing link in the theory-to-practice research chain. educational scholarship. We still need research to help
Educators, through critical research, are positioned to us understand the outcomes associated with the deci-
develop studies of attempts to translate critical peda- sions we make about what to teach and how to teach
gogy into K–12 literacy practice. They are also able it in literacy classrooms. Critical research implies dif-
to develop studies that focus on the relative impacts ferent tools, different experts, and different processes
of various educational interventions, especially those of making sense of the information we collect, but the
interventions that are focused on a model of pedagogy imperatives of designing and investigating innovative
that privileges attention to critique and to social jus- classroom practice are still important to acknowledge
tice as much as it does the development of sanctioned and to address.
academic skills. In a research and policy climate where When it’s done well, critical literacy research in
all of the attention is focused on measurable academic diverse classrooms can document learning and change
outcomes, it becomes that much more imperative for across at least three domains. First, we can collect
critical research to help demonstrate the relevance of data that tell us something about identity develop-
radical pedagogies not only for those who hold offi- ment. That is, critical research in literacy classrooms
cial power, but also for those members of communi- can help us to understand how literacy education can
ties who fully expect that schooling will provide their help students see themselves as intellectuals; as read-
children with the tools they need to participate pro- ers, writers, and speakers; as users of new media tools;
fessionally, socially, and politically. It is important for as affirmed members of ethnic or linguistic minority
those who engage in critical work to understand that groups, cultures, and communities; or as members of
skeptics exist on all sides; not only do we confront particular gendered groups or socioeconomic classes.
institutions of power that may not be interested in Macro-level research that looks only at standardized
having students exist as free thinking intellectuals but outcomes misses much of this story. We could have
also we have parents and community members who students who are improving in standard measures of

Critical Research and the Future of Literacy Education


want to understand how the work of critical educators achievement yet feeling worse about themselves, and
is actually beneficial for their children. who are becoming alienated from the groups that de-
Classroom practitioners, their students, and the fine their identity outside of the school site. By the
researchers who work in classrooms with them are same token, we could have interventions that show
uniquely positioned to develop projects that show demonstrable changes in identity development that
how a humanizing literacy education can develop have not yet yielded significant differences in aca-
important literacy skills as it promotes social critique demic achievement.
and social action. When insiders are involved in data Critical literacy researchers are also able to do far
collection and analysis, for instance, it changes the more with the analysis of students’ cultural and textu-
nature of the research enterprise in ways that I ar- al production. When student work products are ana-
gue are important and actually beneficial. Insiders lyzed from a critical perspective, we are able to look at
who are intimately familiar with the learning con- these not just as evidence of the development of aca-
text and the research participants are far less likely demic skills; but also we can examine the substance
to become lost in translation, so to speak. It is still of this work to understand how students are learning
possible for research teams to pull together various to think differently about the world and their place 99
forms of information about classroom life to make in it. Furthermore, critical research enables us to ex-
statements about effective curricula and pedagogies pand the notion of what we mean by student work to
include student action, particularly action for change. about their daily lives inside and outside of school.
This will help our field to answer a second important The project was created to help students draw upon
question: How do we know that students are learn- their lived experiences to improve their writing skills,
ing? Critical research can and should provide not only but it was also intended to help students make con-
answers to these types of questions, but also methods nections between their individual lives and the social
for arriving at the answers. For example, if we define conditions that reproduce inequality. On one level,
learning as changing participation over time in com- the students became researchers of their own lives
munities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Oakes & and, through that process, they were introduced to
Rogers, 2006) and we explore the ways that students social theory that they used to develop critiques of
are developing and enacting their own models of en- inequitable schooling conditions. On a second level
gaged citizenship inside of English classrooms, we may these students also became conscious participants in
need to look outside of traditional research measures an action research project that the teacher conducted
to find this information, and we may need to employ
to determine whether this approach to English teach-
students as more than merely the objects of research if
ing would produce demonstrable gains in academic
we are to learn all that we can about possibilities for
performance and attitudes.
empowerment inside of literacy classrooms.
The second example shows how youth can work
And finally, researchers can amass a variety of
alongside teachers and university researchers as criti-
quantitative data sources that codify student learning
cal sociologists who collect data on the conditions of
and academic achievement from a critical perspective.
school that can be used to advocate for equity and
Teachers can certainly access traditional measures
change. I talk about how the students were appren-
such as test scores, grades, graduation rates, and col-
lege access, but they may complement standardized ticed as researchers, the work that they were able to
testing and achievement data with carefully crafted do, and what this process meant not only for the work
authentic literacy measures that can be quantified. of equity and access in literacy education, but also for
They may also collect data on attendance, or even the literacy development of the students who partici-
collect longitudinal data that explores how these stu- pated in this work.
dents progress through subsequent years of schooling
October 2009

following a powerful intervention. Certainly most The Critical Minds Project


of these tools are not at all unique to critical theory In the fall of 2007 I received a call from two teachers
or critical research. Researchers from other schools whom I had worked with on prior projects. Both were
of thought look at student work and they routinely now working at the same school, a large metropolitan
53(2)

interview students, teachers, and other participants in high school that served an almost exclusively Chicano
the educational arena. However, when these tools are population. These teachers, while experiencing some
used in critical research they take on new significance
Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy

success, both complained about student engagement


by virtue of the new users and the questions they are and student achievement. One of these teachers, Miss
employed to ask and answer about activity, produc- Rodriguez (pseudonym), was in her first year of
tion, and transformation in literacy classrooms. teaching at the high school level. She was assigned a
group of ninth graders who were identified as having
Examples of Critical Research low literacy levels. This class met for 2 hours instead
in Literacy Education of the traditional 50-minute periods. The class met
I next turn to two examples of how groups of stu- in the 2-hour block following lunch, out in a group
dents, teachers, and university researchers have used of bungalows that were separated from the rest of the
critical research to design and analyze innovative school by a football field. Miss Rodriguez wanted to
classroom curricula and pedagogies. The first ex- know what she could do to get her students, her boys
100
ample is taken from a ninth-grade classroom where especially, more interested in literacy learning and
the teacher asks the students to generate narratives more prolific in academic reading and writing.
I attended her class, and we held a meeting af- at the school. From the beginning
terward to discuss a strategy for moving forward. I we thought of the project as an op-
asked her what the students were interested in and she portunity to develop a practical From the beginning
mentioned that they loved to talk about life in their application of a theory of learning we thought of
neighborhood. I mentioned that we should develop and teaching to a specific learn- the project as an
a unit that allowed them to write about a day in the ing context. We had all read the
opportunity to
life of their neighborhood, from the time they awoke work of Brazilian educator Freire
until the time they went to bed; and with that the (1970) and we were very much in- develop a practical
Critical Minds Project was born. The students took to terested in the applications of criti- application of a
the project immediately. In addition to writing drafts cal pedagogy to the high school
theory of learning
of essays, the students collected digital photographs, literacy classroom. Additionally
the teachers and graduate students and teaching to a
created artwork, and put together a short film of their
work, which they presented at my university in the
were familiar with my research on specific learning
youth popular culture and literacy context.
late autumn. During the spring semester the students
engagement. We decided to work
revisited their narratives. They read works in sociol-
together to create a learning con-
ogy and educational research as well as hip-hop texts
text where youth, through having the opportunity to
and fictional narratives to provide a context for ana-
express a critique of their personal and social worlds,
lyzing their experiences. These students added a social
would come to a greater understanding of the oppres-
analysis to their narratives and created final works,
sive social, political, and material conditions that made
several of which were published in an online journal. life more difficult for them and for those about whom
They also returned to the university where they put they cared, while also seeing themselves as agents with
on a presentation for an audience of 300 that includ- the potential to change these conditions. We felt that
ed students from other schools, university students, this process of humanization through writing would
teachers, administrators, university faculty, and com- improve the academic literacy skills of the students.
munity organizers. In their presentations the students Because all of the university team had signifi-
drew upon their narratives and the social theory that cant teaching experience, Miss Rodriguez very much
they had accessed to critique their own experiences as wanted us to be a part of the general life in the class-
well as the schools and other social institutions within room. For the remainder of the school year we would
which these experiences were framed. In this way they all visit the class at least once a week and we staggered

Critical Research and the Future of Literacy Education


became social theorists and scholars in their own right our visits so that one of us would be in the classroom
who were able to move from translating their own at least three days out of the week. As classroom par-
experiences to making statements about the role of ticipants we would help students individually, offer
schools in promoting social inequality. The students minilessons to the whole class, and continually par-
were also able to talk about the spaces inside of their ticipate in the collective conversation about refining
lives where they encountered humanizing pedagogy the classroom curriculum. Miss Rodriguez also had
and the support they needed to develop as writers, considerable experience with educational research.
thinkers, and citizens. In interviews and in their nar- Prior to becoming a classroom teacher, she worked
ratives the students described how the process of writ- for an educational foundation that collected data on
ing the narratives helped them as students and in their innovative classroom practices. From these experi-
presentations the students talked about recommenda- ences, Miss Rodriguez understood the importance
tions they had for how English should be taught. of documenting the Critical Minds Project, so as we
As a research team we worked together in several talked about developing and refining the curriculum
unique ways that may inform the future of literacy and pedagogy, we also talked about research ques-
research. First of all, the team consisted of (in addition tions, data collection, and the bridge between theory 101
to myself ) two graduate students (both of whom had and classroom practice in the context of a ninth-grade
been classroom teachers), and two classroom teachers English classroom with its mandates, standards, and
involuntary measures of assess- organizations, and analyzed statistical databases such
ment. In this way the working en- as the U.S. Census and the Educational Data reports
The student- vironment sought to break down released by the California Department of Education.
researchers wanted the binaries between teachers and The final products were a research brief written as a
to understand the researchers. In the same way that group, a PowerPoint presentation, a short digital vid-
Freire (1970) advocated for teacher- eo documentary, and individual 1,500–2,000 word
conditions that essays (what we called auto-ethnographies) on their
students and student-teachers in the
lead to student ideal dialogic classroom, we sought experiences as critical researchers. The final reports,
investment and to develop teacher-researchers and PowerPoint presentations, and documentaries were
researcher-teachers in the ideal presented at City Hall to the Mayor’s office of educa-
increase student
inquiry-focused English classroom. tion. The mayor attended, as did members of the lo-
engagement and cal print and television media. The students’ findings
achievement. The Council of Youth have generated a great deal of attention from the me-
Research dia and from policymakers and district administrators.
The following summer, in 2008, Several students and one teacher were invited to par-
Miss Rodriguez joined a group of teachers and grad- ticipate in an achievement gap summit sponsored by
uate students in our annual summer seminar. Each the state Superintendent of Public Instruction. Other
summer, a university colleague and I offer a course students participated in a weeklong discussion with a
that brings high school students from the local, ma- former school board member.
jor metropolitan area to the university to learn how We have held the annual seminar for the past 10
to conduct critical research in their schools and com- years (1999–2008) for a number of important reasons.
munities. For five weeks they read works in urban First of all, we want to create a learning space, sepa-
sociology, critical theory, research methodology, and rate from the demands and constraints of schools, that
education research. Along with their group leader allows us to understand the possible translations of
(usually a K–12 classroom teacher) they develop a re- critical theories of teaching and learning into practice.
search question, design a research study, collect and In this way, the summer seminar serves as a laboratory
analyze data, write essays and research reports, cre- space to try out innovative ideas with students. Over
October 2009

ate PowerPoint presentations, and put together short the past decade, we have been able to develop models
documentary films. At the culmination of each semi- of instruction that would not have been possible in-
nar the research groups (numbering four or five) make side of traditional classrooms, but we have also been
their presentations and show their films to an audi- able to inform classroom practice through what we
have learned and demonstrated in the seminar space.
53(2)

ence of parents, teachers, administrators, policymak-


ers, and university faculty. We are also interested in how student and teach-
In the summer of 2007, the students explored the er voices can inform important conversations inside
Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy

dropout problem in our city. In many of the schools of educational research and policy. Each summer we
the students attended, fewer than one third of the stu- tackle a widely discussed issue and attempt to inform
dents who start high school finish with diplomas four that issue with research that is largely conducted by
years later and many of those who finish do not have teachers and students. At the same time, the seminar
the classes or grades needed to enroll in four-year uni- itself is designed to create powerful learning outcomes
versities. The student-researchers wanted to under- for the participants who are heavily involved in the
stand the conditions that lead to student investment research process. Learning outcomes are measured by
and increase student engagement and achievement. textual production, by the development of critical lan-
Each of the five student groups in 2008 focused on guage awareness (Fairclough, 1995), by demonstrations
a particular geographical area of the city where they of engaged citizenship, and by actual praxis. We have
102
interviewed adult powerbrokers such as the superin- also been able to follow several of the teachers back
tendent and school board members, interviewed and into the classroom to understand how the seminar has
surveyed students, visited school sites and community affected their teaching and their academic scholarship.
The seminar is an example of the steps that critical the kind of research that has been described in this ar-
research in literacy education can take on several lev- ticle. Although we need courses at each of these levels
els. First of all, it is possible to create laboratory spaces that are aimed at the specific needs of preservice teach-
to test out our ideas that exist outside of the general ers, Masters students (some of whom may be practic-
parameters of academic schooling with its mandates, ing teachers), and doctoral candidates, it is also possible
short periods, confined spaces, and established rela- to imagine how graduate schools of education might
tionships between teachers and students and among create spaces for these populations to come together to
teachers, students, the texts they read, and the world learn more about the applications of critical research
at large. Many of these parameters and constraints are methodologies to literacy education. For example, it is
the result of theories about learning and literacy that possible to create research seminars that allow students
need to be challenged and rethought. These labora- to explore specific research questions in specific class-
tory spaces can take the shape of summer programs, room contexts. Perhaps doctoral students can work
after school programs, special courses, or designated closely with preservice and practicing teachers inside
units within more traditional courses. The seminar is of a classroom as they enhance their teacher-researcher
also a potentially powerful model in that it shows how identities while developing innovative curricula and
teachers and students can play more profound roles figuring out the most appropriate ways to document
in academic research even as we create empowered the learning and the challenges that accompany these
models of teaching and learning through the pro- particular classroom practices. Although learning
cess itself. That is, teachers and students can help us doesn’t have to be standardized, it would be helpful to
to learn more about empowering literacy pedagogies begin developing a consensus around appropriate and
through the process of critical research that is itself an powerful ways to convey literacy learning in English
empowering example of literacy pedagogy. classrooms. How can teachers best do this? How do
critical educators work within oppressive conditions
Recommendations for the Future that constrain what it is they teach and how they are to
of Critical Research teach? How can university researchers better contrib-
Critical research can be an important component of the ute to the classrooms where they are working while
repertoire of teachers and university researchers who also informing the field? How do university research-
want to develop and understand pedagogical practices ers balance these dual responsibilities while also try-
that lead to excellence and power for all students. When ing to communicate effectively to their colleagues via

Critical Research and the Future of Literacy Education


we consider the most pressing problems in our disci- scholarly journals and books and, at the same time,
pline, the tenets of critical research, and the two pre- seek additional outlets and audiences for their work?
ceding examples, several recommendations emerge. A second recommendation concerns developing
First of all, we need much more thorough training mechanisms for distribution and enhancement of criti-
in critical research at the preservice teacher education cal research in literacy education. At present we do have
through doctoral levels in schools of education. It is journals and conferences where research can be shared,
possible now for teachers to become certified without but the nature of the research presented varies widely
ever having to take courses on research methodologies and we rarely hold extended conversations concerning
or having to learn much at all about how to collect what makes critical research critical, or what consti-
and analyze data that emerge from their classrooms. tutes exemplary critical research. As a field we can insist
Critical research can become an important facet of that as our journals make more space for critical work,
teacher learning inside of teacher education courses; that they also push contributors to refine and improve
that is, teachers can learn about their own practice as their explanations of their research methodology and
they also learn how to become better researchers of their rationale for the claims that they make about the
classroom practice. By the same token, our doctoral connection between interventions and outcomes. Our 103
students have few spaces inside of their language and journals can also open up spaces that allow teachers and
literacy course work where they learn how to conduct university faculty to hold discussions about how we
come to know what we know in the areas of critical re- Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate periph-
eral participation. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University
search and powerful literacy education even as we push
Press.
ourselves to get better at what we do. As a field of edu- Marcuse, H. (1964). One dimensional man: Studies in the ideology
cators and researchers, working together to create the of advanced industrial society. London: Routledge and Kegan
research skill sets and the mechanisms for distribution Paul.
McLaren, P. (2002). Life in schools: An introduction to critical pedagogy
that contribute to more dynamic and accessible spaces
in the foundations of education (4th ed.). New York: Longman.
for exchange among teachers, students, and university Morrell, E. (2004). Becoming critical researchers: Literacy and empow-
researchers gives us the best chance of capturing and erment for urban youth. New York: Peter Lang.
theorizing the life in literacy classrooms that we know Morrell, E. (2008). Critical literacy and urban youth: Pedagogies of
access, dissent, and liberation. New York: Routledge.
can and should exist for all of our students.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
(2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children
References to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research lit-
Adorno, T. (2002). The culture industry. London: Routledge. erature on reading and its implications for reading instruction
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The landscape of qualitative research (pp. 260–299). Thousand for Democracy, Education, and Access (IDEA); e-mail
Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy

Oaks, CA: Sage. morrell@gseis.ucla.edu or visit www.ernestmorrell.com.

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