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“The Forgotten Boys”: Introduction to the Special Issue

Jeanne Chall, one of the greatest reading scholars of the 20th century, directed the Harvard Reading Lab and conducted the most comprehensive investigation of reading methods ever attempted Chall (1967, 1983). More than 50 years ago, she provided compelling evidence supporting the use of explicit phonics-based methods of teaching, particularly for struggling readers, whatever the source of the struggle. Chall wanted the study of reading to be based on science and an unflinching assessment of what would give all children, particularly underserved children, their best shot at contributing their talent to society. Shortly before she died, she called me. In retrospect, I believe she knew that she would not live much longer and wanted to propel me and others to work for the children who needed it most. I am introducing this entire special issue with Jeanne Chall, because her last words to me are the cornerstone of the work represented in these pages. In a voice that was halting but adamant, she insisted that the most important issue in American education was to address the problems underlying the reading failure of African American boys, particularly fourth-grade boys. She said it was key to changing education. In this issue, “Promoting Academic Readiness for African American Males With Dyslexia: Teaching Implications for Preschool–Elementary School,” the authors (Washington, BranumMartin, Lee-James, & Sun; Russell & Shiffler; Banks & Gibson; Graham, Harris, & Beard) describe the sobering, unchanged details that buttress Jeanne Chall’s admonition almost 20 years later. As is described in more detail in this volume, African American boys are overrepresented on multiple dimensions of reading failure, poor grades, dropout rates, and school suspensions. It is very important to note that, just as Jeanne worried, only a small percentage of African American boys are proficient in reading at Grade 3. Indeed, all too many are three grades behind in reading by fourth grade, the Maginot Line when fluency is assumed; the materials to be read have become more complex; and few teachers have been trained to deal with reading acquisition or its failure to develop (see Wolf, 2007, 2016, 2018). But Jeanne described something else that is central to this special issue that has haunted me to this day. I paraphrase only slightly. She told everyone who would listen that if you were poor, Black, and failing, you were doomed to school failure, but if you were middle class, White, and failing, you were likely to be classified as having a learning disability or dyslexia and entitled to intervention. Shawn Anthony Robinson, PhD, the coeditor of this special issue, helped to begin what should never have been needed as a new direction of research: research on the simple fact that there is an entire group of children who are African American, male, and gifted and have dyslexia—largely undiagnosed and usually untreated (Hoyles & Hoyles, 2010; Robinson, 2016; Robinson, 2013). Distinguishing, disentangling, and attending to each of these characteristics and its effects on individuals and society is part of the charge of this special issue. It could not be more important. One of the statements that preceded this special issue and underscores its urgency is found in Robinson, Ford, Hartlep, and Ellis (2016), who stated, “A