What many teachers note as being “hot” in national conversations about literacy isn’t what they think is most important, according to a survey by the International Literacy Association.
The group asked literacy professionals, including teachers, instructional coaches, and others, to rate the importance and visibility of 17 literacy topics in their communities. Nearly 9 in 10 rated standards and assessment and educational technology as the “hottest” topics in their community, but those were not in the top five topics the educators considered the most “important.”
Parent engagement, access to books and content, literacy in resource-limited settings, teacher professional learning and development, and early literacy, on the other hand, were rated as significantly more “important” than “hot.”