Imagine a classroom where students can flawlessly sound out the text in front of them, yet struggle to explain what the story actually means or how it connects to the real world. It sounds like a teacher’s nightmare, but it reflects a long-standing challenge in US education—the gap between reading print and extracting meaning. As more and more districts adopt Science of Reading (SoR) practices into their curriculum and provide teachers with training on SoR-informed instruction, schools risk hitting a proficiency ceiling if they rely solely on teaching isolated mechanics like decoding or identifying the main idea of text. Long-term literacy success requires embedding these foundational skills within culturally responsive, asset-based instruction that both expands knowledge and sparks the intrinsic motivation and cognitive engagement students need to become lifelong readers.
Enter: ethnic studies. Ethnic studies is an interdisciplinary academic field that critically examines the histories, cultures, and experiences of marginalized groups. While ethnic studies can be taught as a standalone course—usually one that provides a comparative study of multiple racialized groups, or one that examines the history and experiences of a particular group—it can also be integrated into existing courses, such as a traditional US history or English language arts class. This involves shifting the narrative of the course (Whose views and experiences are centered?), using an asset-based and culturally responsive framework (How are the cultural contributions, resilience, agency, and joy of those within and outside the local community centered?), and connecting course content to real-world experiences (How do students apply what they’ve learned to their lives?). Though ethnic studies frameworks typically offer counternarratives for understanding marginalized communities, the field is also focused on themes of identity and community action, so students from non-marginalized communities are also able to explore cultural heritage and contributions. All students are encouraged to consider multiperspectivity.
Cognitive science tells us that skills like reading comprehension are not built through isolated skill drills. These processes are driven by background knowledge and mental frameworks. The brain is constantly building upon prior knowledge. “Schema theory,” developed by psychologists such as Frederic Bartlett and Jean Piaget, suggests that new information is processed and stored using existing frameworks (schema), operating like the brain’s filing system. When students encounter texts that reflect their identities, communities, and real-world histories—things they already have exposure to and familiarity with—those mental file folders are far easier to access. This allows them to process new words and concepts with less cognitive effort, meaning that students can get further with making sense of the material and acquiring new knowledge.
Culturally responsive teaching, an instructional approach that uses students’ backgrounds, interests, and experiences as a bridge to make learning more accessible and effective (and a key component of ethnic studies frameworks), has been shown to support achievement, engagement, and equity. In Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain (2014), educator Zaretta Hammond draws on neuroscience research to show how this approach can be harnessed to encourage academic risk-taking, boost student engagement, and provide rigor. When students see their identities, histories, and communities reflected in challenging texts, cognitive engagement surges—driving measurable gains in comprehension, analysis, and stamina.
Culture—developed first through family and community interactions—acts as the mind’s primary organizational system. Students’ worldviews and lived experiences determine how they access and connect to learning. When instruction is grounded in familiar contexts, students are able to move to higher-level thinking, see themselves represented, and view themselves and their communities as the scholars they are. Research consistently links these positive experiences to gains in engagement and achievement. A 2025 study published in Sage Open, for instance, showed that when culturally responsive practices were integrated with SoR practices in a reading tutoring intervention program, students had stronger literacy motivation as compared to those that had been exposed to SoR activities alone. A 2026 analysis published in the American Educational Research Journal demonstrated that culturally relevant instruction, delivered through ethnic studies programming, led to “gains in GPA, reduced course failure, and broad benefits across student groups.”
So how do you incorporate ethnic studies practices into classrooms today? These strategies can help.
When students engage with culturally responsive, rigorous learning experiences—both of which are supported by ethnic studies—they are able to move beyond simple mechanics to deep learning that promotes understanding and application across contexts. By anchoring new concepts to familiar frameworks, students can develop the domain knowledge, vocabulary depth, and cognitive stamina needed to comprehend complex, multi-perspective texts. By empowering students with the skills to consider issues from diverse viewpoints and to use language effectively to express ideas and effect change, ethnic studies practices turn passive readers into active, critical thinkers. These rich experiences will support students on both the standardized tests that may await them at year’s end and throughout their lives.
Looking for more ideas? Check out our standards-aligned ethnic studies resources, which can be used for standalone or integrated ethnic studies instruction and are rich with interdisciplinary activities. Our K–8 textbooks and teacher resources are explicitly built to support integrated literacy and are filled with examples of diverse experiences to help move mainstream instruction toward a more inclusive narrative.