Listening to many voices: Enacting social justice literacy curriculum

This study seeks to understand what struggles an equity-minded English teacher encountered while enacting social justice curriculum and pedagogy. Data indicated the primary factors that influenced the teacher's understandings were her students and grade-level colleagues, not administrative mandates or the state standardized test. An additional finding was that the conflicts that Octavia anticipated as a pre-service teacher (competing reform agendas) were less relevant than concerns about reading materials and text selection. The study indicates a need to shift attention to less-commonly studied factors in teacher decision-making: quality instructional resources, interpersonal relationships, and ideologies about curriculum.