Who Gets to Decide? A Case Study Exploring Tennessee’s Early Childhood Literacy Initiatives

Because literacy is a twenty-first century education skill (OECD, 21st-century readers: developing literacy skills in a digital world, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/a83d84cb-en , 2021), educational stakeholders across the United States have consistently advocated for initiatives to increase literacy among the general population but especially in the early years and elementary grades. In the following manuscript, we will discuss literacy initiatives in the state of Tennessee with a particular emphasis on the Governor’s Early Literacy Foundation (GELF). We position this initiative against the backdrop of failing literacy scores and the removal of classroom books across the state. Next, we discuss relevant literature on culturally responsive teaching frameworks, which leads us to make the case that, though necessary, improvements to literacy scores in Tennessee cannot rely solely on the books distributed by the state. It is imperative that the books children have access to introduce them to diverse lived experiences and that educational stakeholders begin questioning who gets to decide which books children can access. Using the specific example of Tennessee, we make the case that this is relevant to all educational stakeholders, because everywhere in the world, there are people and systems who have the power to choose what education looks like and what knowledge and whose experiences are deemed valid. Our purpose within this manuscript is to engage in a critical examination of one early childhood initiative as an example of how others can use a critical lens to examine the implications of initiatives and decisions being made in their own locales and how using a critical lens can also guide practices for advancing equity in classrooms.