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While a long tradition of sociocultural literacy research suggests that out‐of‐school youth engage in a range of meaningful literacy practices, we know little about how programs for returning students foster or constrain students’ literate identities. Drawing on data from a qualitative study conducted in a community college‐based program for out‐of‐school youth, this paper explores the literacy practices and identities of adolescents returning to school. The data indicate that participants have active out‐of‐school writing lives and robust writerly identities enacted in relationship with peers and literacy mentors. However, for most students, the return to school resulted in a disruption to those writerly identities as they struggled to meet the program's expectations for academic literacy. This paper suggests opportunities for educators to capitalize on students’ out‐of‐school literacy practices and the fullness of their identities as shaped by their experiences in and out of high school.

Disciplinary societies have a role to play in supporting the needs of community college adjunct faculty. The potential exists to improve the professional lives of these faculty members, an underappreciated segment of the higher education workforce, and to positively influence outcomes for students enrolled in community colleges.

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