Disciplinary Literacy for the Elementary School

Tim Shanahan

Blast from the Past: This blog first appeared on August 14, 2021, and was reissued with minor revisions on September 20, 2025. Reading education – like the lengths of skirts and the widths of neckties – tends to be trendy. That’s unfortunate for those kids who happen to be in school when phonics isn’t cool and learning styles are. I often reissue these entries when I sense renewed interest in a topic. This time it is just the opposite. I’m not hearing much interest in this lately, and I think this neglect is a serious problem for kids. Maybe this will help light a fire under some schools. 

Disciplinary Literacy Goes to Elementary School

Teacher question: I’m an elementary school principal. I've heard a lot recently about disciplinary literacy. Our school isn't doing enough with that in my opinion. What do you think? What should I have my teachers doing with disciplinary literacy?
Shanahan responds:

Over the past three decades research has shown that people read differently in the different disciplines (Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008, 2012, 2020; Shanahan, Shanahan, & Misichia, 2011). Historians, for instance, read different kinds of texts, for different purposes, they weigh evidence differently, and focus on different kind of information in the texts that they read than do literary critics or scientists (Wineburg, Martin, Monte-Santo, 2011).

Reading starts out pretty generalizable. The skills we use to decode text are the same no matter what we read. The same can be said about the basics of comprehension. Informational texts in grade 2 are like each other in most respects, no matter from what field of study the information is drawn.

But as text gets more sophisticated things start to diverge. Content is not the only distinguishing feature of science, mathematics, history, and literature texts.

These differences appear to be linked to how knowledge is created in the different disciplines and the nature of the knowledge created. Historians devote what, in other disciplines, may seem to be inordinate amounts of time focused on the varied perspectives of participants in and observers of historical events. Scientists, on the other hand, don’t pay much attention to those kinds of differences, but focus on methodological rigor and replication.  

As a result, most states have disciplinary literacy standards for grades 6-12. We want our kids to read at high levels and that means being able to read like historians, mathematicians, scientists, and literary critics.

Terrific.

But what about elementary school?

Should elementary school teachers teach disciplinary literacy?

Possibly a little, but, in the main, my answer is no. It doesn’t make sense to teach disciplinary literacy until kids are confronting the demands of truly disciplinary texts. This might start to happen in the upper elementary grades, which is why I say, “a little.” But most of the reading time in social studies, science, and math class should be more basic than that.

The main contribution that elementary teachers can make is to get kids ready to take on the rigors of disciplinary literacy in middle school and high school. Here are some of the things they can do to smooth the path to disciplinary literacy success:

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