African American Males and Literacy Development in Contexts That are Characteristically Urban

Advancing the literacy development of African American males in contexts that are characteristically urban has been a challenging task for educators across the P-12 spectrum. Frames that have been traditionally used to improve the reading achievement of African American males have not reversed trends in reading achievement that find many of these young males underperforming on traditional reading assessments. The purpose of this article is to reframe the discussion on the literacy development of African American males based on a review of several bodies of literature. Attention is given to evidence-based reading research: three historical frames of the literacy development of African American males and a literacy model for advancing the literacy development of African American male youth in urban schools. Finally, a research agenda is proposed for advancing the literacy development of African American male youth with the goal of offering guidance to teachers, teacher educators, researchers, and policymakers.