Seeing the Brain,Scientizing the Teacher Knowledge: The Question of Equity in the Science of Reading Reforms

Abstract

Background/Context:

While the science of reading reforms are framed through the lens of equity, emphasizing every child’s right to learn to read, they rarely address the complexities of equity in education. Also, despite the impact of neuroscience on the science of reading reforms, little research critically investigates how teachers understand and enact equitable education within this reform paradigm.

Purpose:

This paper explores how the science of reading reform discourses intertwine “science” and “equity” in reading education, to explicate their paradoxical claim toward reading education for “all.” It addresses two questions: (1) How does the dominant notion of “science” in the science of reading shape teachers’ perceptions and practices related to reading development? (2) How is “equity” framed in the science of reading reforms, particularly in relation to how teachers interpret and enact the neuroscientific promise of reading education for “all” while working with culturally and linguistically diverse students?

Research Design:

Drawing on literature from neuroscience, literacy research, and teacher education, I frame the science of reading reforms as introducing a “neurological gaze” into reading education, which enables teachers to see the brain as the pedagogical site, grounded in brain plasticity as the scientific foundation for equitable reading education. Guided by a postfoundational approach and critical thematic analysis, this qualitative study examines interviews with teachers who early adopted the science of reading while working with culturally and linguistically diverse students.

Conclusions/Recommendations:

Seeing brain images as scientific evidence has fostered a sense of transparency and scientific legitimacy for the science of reading reforms, helping teachers understand the brain mechanisms behind reading development. However, this neuroscientific approach conceptualizes reading primarily as reinforcing orthographic–phonological processing, framing equity through the lens of a universal reading brain and a medical model of reading. The equity framework in the science of reading reforms promotes structured approaches as universally applicable for “all” students, based on the assumption that all brains learn to read in similar ways, overlooking cultural, linguistic, and pedagogical diversity. This has led the science of reading reforms to prioritize phonics as science-based equitable instruction, marginalizing sociocultural, asset-based, and intersectional aspects of reading education. This study calls for critical reflections on the intersection of “science” and “equity” in education, highlighting the unintended consequences of applying brain plasticity as a universal rationale. Without interrogating the paradoxical rhetoric of equity in neuroscience-driven education reforms, a risk remains of perpetuating exclusionary practices within scientifically validated frameworks that claim to be inclusive.