Adolescent Literacy in the 21st Century

    The present understanding of literacy growth indicates that students must continue to learn many new things, and acquire additional skills, in order to maintain literacy proficiency as they move from elementary to middle and high school.  We have taken considerable measures to ensure that every child masters the basics of reading by the end of third grade.  However, the demands for adolescent literacy have not been as aggressive.  It was not until 2003 in an initiative by the Carnegie Corporation that an effort was made to begin to improve the literacy of students in grades four through twelve.  Although research on adolescent literacy is not as extensive as early reading, there is enough known about the nature, problems and interventions for struggling readers that schools and classroom teachers can make a difference now.

     There are approximately eight million struggling readers in grades 4-12 (NCES, 2003).  These struggling readers vary in the challenges they face in every classroom.  Most adolescents can read when they enter middle and high school, but they cannot comprehend the text, or what they read.  Only about ten percent of adolescents cannot decode words (Biancarosa and Snow, 2006).  Therefore, it is extremely important that content area teachers, adopt instructional practices and strategies that can be used within their existing curricula to improve the literacy levels of the struggling readers.  Better literacy skills improve student achievement in math, science and social studies, as well as English.

     The following research-based information will be your support and encouragement for a district/school adolescent literacy plan: