Critical In-Depth Reading and Wellbeing (CIDR)

Project Description

The Critical In-Depth Reading and Wellbeing (CIDR) project is a five-year, school-based research and professional learning initiative designed to strengthen adolescent mental health through literacy education. Grounded in the integration of social-emotional learning, culturally responsive pedagogy, and critical literacy, CIDR equips middle and high school English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers with evidence-based tools to better support students from immigrant and refugee backgrounds. Many of these students experience significant stressors, including linguistic barriers, social isolation, and systemic inequities, which can undermine both academic engagement and emotional wellbeing. Through reflective dialogue, identity-affirming texts, and collaborative reading practices, teachers learn to build classrooms that foster belonging, connection, and resilience. Partnering with North Carolina school districts, the project will work with 60 teachers and approximately 600 students over two cohorts. Using mixed-methods research, CIDR will study how teacher beliefs, instructional practices, and student outcomes evolve over time, with the goal of creating a flexible, scalable model for advancing literacy and mental health across diverse educational settings.

Project Goals

  • Strengthen adolescent wellbeing through literacy instruction
    Support immigrant- and refugee-background middle and high school students’ social, emotional, and academic wellbeing by integrating critical, identity-affirming reading practices into ESL classrooms.
  • Equip teachers with evidence-based, humanizing instructional practices
    Build ESL teachers’ capacity to implement critical in-depth reading strategies that foster belonging, agency, and emotional safety while also advancing rigorous academic literacy.
  • Develop and study a scalable professional learning model
    Design, implement, and evaluate a sustained, school-based professional learning model that integrates critical literacy, culturally responsive pedagogy, and wellbeing supports for educators and students.
  • Generate actionable research to inform policy and practice
    Produce rigorous qualitative and mixed-methods evidence on how literacy instruction can function as a lever for adolescent wellbeing, with implications for secondary ESL instruction, teacher preparation, and district- and state-level policy.