Division for Early Childhood 2024 Conference

Early childhood literacy skills predict the future success students have in their postsecondary lives. These early classroom experiences with literature lead to better opportunities in higher education, job retention, and beyond. However, the emergent literacy curriculum is not always representative of the culturally and linguistically diverse population that makes up the class rooms. This scoping review looks at the current literature around culturally responsive and sustaining literacy lessons in early childhood education and whether or not they include manners of Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Pedagogies and Universal Design for Learning in their investigations. By investigating the study design, methodology, overarching themes, and cultural sensitivity across these studies, researchers found there is a need to promote representation and diversity in emergent literacy in early childhood education.