The idea of what constitutes literacy in the classroom is mostly determined by middle-class school officials and state and federal administrators. The discourse of minority populations is marginalized and not readily recognized or incorporated into mainstream instruction. This impacts not only the ability of these students to be accountable members of the classroom community but also their future chances of becoming powerful members of a society whose voices are heard and respected. There are many reasons why a student might struggle to perform in the literacy classroom. For the purposes of this paper, I focus on current and relevant studies that can be generalized to determine the cultural and class factors at play in this issue.