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Inspiration

A collection of authors and publications that have strongly influenced the foundations of our work in equitable literacy education and instruction. 

These authors and their content have taught me a great deal about designing equitable education systems, how our current system has been shaped by historical events, and how we might work collectively toward a more equitable and literate future. I hope you find this important work as inspiring as I do.

Kate Crist

Founder of Education 4500

Use the 

links below to visit the author or bookseller’s website.

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DESIGN

How might we design more equitable education systems?

Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization

Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey

White Women: Everything You Already Know About Your Own Racism and How to Do Better

Regina Jackson and Saira Rao

Racism and inequity are products of design. They can be redesigned.

equityXdesign

Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience

Brene Brown

Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds

adrienne marie brown

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HISTORICAL CONTEXT

How have historical events shaped our current work?

White Supremacy: A Comparative Study of American and South African History

George M. Fredrickson

A People’s History of the United States: 1492 – Present

Howard Zinn

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America

Richard Rothsten

The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together

Heather McGhee

Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong

James W. Loewen

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

Ibram X Kendi

The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story

Nikole Hannah-Jones

Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own

Eddie S. Glaude Jr.

Fugitive Pedagogy: Carter G Woodson and the Art of Black Teaching

Jarvis R Givens

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EQUITABLE LITERACY

What might engaged and liberated equitable literacy look like?

Teaching Disciplinary Literacy to Adolescents: Rethinking Content Area Literacy

Timothy Shanahan and Cynthia Shanahan

Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching Children to Read

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Know Better, Do Better: Teaching the Foundations So Every Child Can Read

David and Meredith Liben

Despite the Best Intentions: How Racial Inequality Thrives in Good Schools

Amanda E. Lewis & John B. Diamond

The Writing Revolution: A Guide to Advancing Thinking Through Writing in All Subjects and Grades

Judith C. Hochman, Natalie Wexler, and Doug Lemov

Access for All Learners: The History-Specific Academic Literacy Model

Phyllis Goldsmith and Rachel B. Reinhard, PhD

Systems for Instructional Improvement: Creating Coherence from the Classroom to the District Office

Paul Cobb, Kara Jackson, Erin Henrick, Thomas M. Smith, and the MIST Team

Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy

Gholdy Muhammad

The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children

Gloria Ladson-Billings

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