<![CDATA[The demands of 21st-century education require elementary school students to possess not only literacy skills but also critical thinking abilities to effectively interpret, evaluate, and utilize information in various contexts. This study aimed to develop a Critical Literacy Program to enhance language literacy and critical thinking skills among fourth-grade elementary school students and to examine its validity, practicality, and effectiveness. The study employed a Research and Development (R&D) approach using the ADDIE model, which consisted of Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation stages. The research was conducted at SD Negeri Padangsari 02 Semarang involving fourth-grade students and classroom teachers. Data were collected through observations, interviews, expert validation sheets, questionnaires, and pretest–posttest assessments. The developed program integrated literacy activities with critical thinking processes through stages of literacy orientation, information exploration, information analysis, critical reflection, and result communication. The validation results showed that the developed program achieved a very valid category with an average score of 4.77. The practicality test indicated highly positive responses from teachers (93%) and students (91%), demonstrating that the program was feasible and easy to implement in classroom settings. The effectiveness test revealed significant improvements in students’ literacy achievement and critical thinking skills, as indicated by a moderate N-Gain score of 0.59 and a statistically significant difference between pretest and posttest scores (t = 12.84; p < 0.05). These findings suggest that the developed Critical Literacy Program is valid, practical, and effective in improving elementary school students’ language literacy and critical thinking skills.]]>
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