ABSTRACT
This chapter extends our understanding of the ideology of White supremacy by unraveling connections among historical events in reading research. Reading retention laws did not suddenly arise; there were conditions and events that preceded their use. In addition, sociopolitical contexts are examined to track the conditions and events leading up to the onset of reading retention laws. In this way, the chapter presents an overview of the history of response to intervention, followed by a brief review of grade retention research and laws that together help to explain how the roots of White supremacy informed and supported anti-Black racism and anti-literacy. Next, a review of reading retention research and reading retention laws is examined, and linkages to anti-Black racism and anti-Black literacy are explored to understand how a nation can criminalize and punish predominately Black and low-income eight- and nine-year-old children for failing to read on grade level built on research that privileges students who are middle to upper middle class, speak variations of standard English dominant, and are White.
