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There are approximately 8.7 million fourth- through 12th-graders in America whose chances for academic success are dismal because they are unable to read and comprehend the material in their textbooks. National and international tests incontrovertibly prove that far too many of America's children are reading at levels that are unacceptably low. The 2002 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) exams showed that 25 percent of eighth-graders and 26 percent of 12th-graders were reading at "below basic" levels. The 2003 results were no better. Fourth-graders scored the same and eighth-grade scores actually decreased by one point from 2002. Twenty-six percent of eighth-grade students read below "basic". (Approximately 343,000 students across the nation in grades four and eight participated in the NAEP 2003 reading assessment-12th-graders were not assessed in 2003. Results of the assessment were released on November 13, 2003 and will be featured in a future issue of Straight A's). International comparisons of reading performance placed American 11th-graders very close to the bottom, behind students from the Philippines, Indonesia, Brazil, and other developing nations.

A new Alliance report, Adolescents and Literacy: Reading for the 21st Century, examines the reliable, empirical research that exists on how to improve the literacy of children in grades four through 12. It offers policymakers and the public a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities that confront the nation as it begins to work to improve the literacy levels of older children. The report demonstrates that we already know a great deal about reading comprehension and about effective methods for helping students of all ages become better readers.

The report examines information related to teaching and learning strategies, the prevention of reading difficulties, the components of effective reading instruction, and reading comprehension. It also explores the importance and impact of a number of factors on literacy instruction including motivation, alphabetic principle, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension (including prior knowledge and strategy instruction).

In addition, Adolescents and Literacy considers the developmental nature of reading and content learning, the differing needs of English-language learners, and the role that technology can play in helping students to better read and comprehend text. It also explores the importance of education and professional development for teachers to improve the reading ability of their students, and the infrastructure that currently exists in middle and high schools that encourages or discourages reading instruction.

Adolescents and Literacy is available online at: https://all4ed.org/files/AdolescentsAndLiteracy.pdf

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READING FOR THE 21ST CENTURY: Improving the Literacy of Children in Grades Four through 12

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There are approximately 8.7 million fourth- through 12th-graders in America whose chances for academic success are dismal because they are unable to read and comprehend the material in their textbooks. National and international tests incontrovertibly prove that far too many of America's children are reading at levels that are unacceptably low.

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On November 19, the House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education held a hearing to examine current federal literacy initiatives and determine how to improve reading and comprehension skills of children from birth through high school. The hearing, "Improving the Literacy Skills of Children and Young Adults," featured practitioners, researchers, and representatives from business and the foundation world as witnesses.

"Only 30 percent of our fourth- and eighth-grade students tested at proficient or higher in reading on the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress," said U.S. Representative Dale Kildee (D-MI), chairman of the Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education Subcommittee. "Many of these struggling readers face a grim future without our help. Some are likely to become discouraged and drop out of school, while others will graduate unprepared for what lies ahead. For those who do graduate high school, about 40 percent will lack the literacy skills employers seek. This creates a serious dilemma in an economy where the twenty-five fastest-growing professions require greater than average literacy skills."

Kildee stressed the importance of early childhood education and called for strengthening existing programs that target Pre-K and elementary-age children, as well as adolescent readers. "Researchers have documented a fourth-grade reading slump for years, yet federal investment in reading programs for grades four through twelve remains minimal," he said. "In order to reverse the high school dropout crisis and prepare all students for postsecondary opportunities, we need to provide reading support far beyond the fourth grade."

In her testimony, Dorothy Strickland, professor emeritus at Rutgers University and member of the Alliance for Excellent Education's Intermediate and Adolescent Literacy advisory group, focused on the importance of literacy development during the early childhood years. She offered recommendations on how the federal government could improve policy and practice, such as requiring well-conceived standards for child outcomes and curriculum content, early literacy assessments that are age appropriate, and the employment of multiple means of collecting, synthesizing, and making use of information.

Andrés Henríquez, a program officer in the education division of Carnegie Corporation of New York and also a member of the Alliance's Intermediate and Adolescent Literacy advisory group, discussed Carnegie Corporation's Advancing Literacy initiative, which works to expand knowledge and practices in literacy beyond third grade.

"Our work has shown that strong literacy skills beyond grade three is the cornerstone for success in high school and for college readiness and beyond," Henríquez said. "Struggling readers represent a substantial proportion of students who are dropping out of our high schools. As fourth graders, their scores are among the best in the world. By eighth grade, their scores are much, much lower. By the time they get to tenth grade, U.S. students' scores are among the lowest in the world."

Henríquez added that early literacy instruction "does not inoculate students against struggle or failure later on." He offered several recommendations for how the federal government could ensure that high school graduates have the fundamental literacy skills needed to succeed, including more Title I funding for middle schools and high schools, fewer, clearer, and higher common standards, and a comprehensive focus on literacy instruction from pre-K through twelfth grade, with specific support for grades four through twelve. He called the LEARN Act, which was introduced earlier this month, a "critical first step" to meet recommendations at the federal level.

Mary Kay Doré, district student support services manager for the Summit School District in Frisco, Colorado, discussed the work her school district has done over the past three years to improve instructional practice and achieve positive gains in literacy and learning for students. Leo Gómez, professor of bilingual/bicultural education at the College of Education at the University of Texas-Pan American, focused on the unique challenges of English language learners. Sandra Meyers, an education associate in reading for the Delaware Department of Education, testified about how Early Reading First and Reading First helped her state improve the literacy skills of very young children who experience high levels of risk of literacy failure. Larry Berger, chief executive officer and cofounder of Wireless Generation, talked about technological breakthroughs in reading instruction and how public policy can accelerate them.

Complete witness testimony and an archived video of the hearing are available at http://edlabor.house.gov/hearings/2009/11/improving-the-literacy-skills.shtml.

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HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE HOLDS HEARING ON IMPROVING READING AND COMPREHENSION SKILLS OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS

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On November 19, the House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education held a hearing to examine current federal literacy initiatives and determine how to improve reading and comprehension skills of children from birth through high school.

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In an effort to provide more research on the needs of adolescent readers and the effective interventions that can address these needs, the U.S. Department of Education began the Enhanced Reading Opportunities (ERO) study. ERO is a demonstration and rigorous evaluation of supplemental literacy programs targeted to ninth-grade students whose reading skills are at least two years below grade level.

As part of the demonstration, six thousand ninth graders from thirty-four high schools in ten school districts were given one of two reading interventions: Reading Apprenticeship Academic Literacy, designed by WestEd and Xtreme Reading, designed by the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. These programs were implemented in the study schools for two school years. MDRC, a nonprofit, nonpartisan education and social policy research organization, conducted the evaluation in partnership with the American Institutes for Research and Survey Research Management.

The first two reports for the study evaluate the programs' impact on students' reading skills and their reading behaviors at the end of ninth grade. The most recent and final report in the study, The Enhanced Reading Opportunities Study Final Report: The Impact of Supplemental Literacy Courses for Struggling Ninth-Grade Readers, finds that ERO programs improved students' reading comprehension skills over the course of ninth grade and helped them perform better in their high school course work. However, these benefits did not persist in the following school year, when students were no longer receiving the supports provided by the ERO programs.

Specifically, students in the reading programs moved from the 23rd percentile to the 25th percentile nationally. At the same time, however, 77 percent of students assigned to an ERO class were still reading at two or more years below grade level at the end of ninth grade. Students' grade point average (GPA) in core subject areas (English language arts, social studies, science, and mathematics) was 0.06 points higher, or 13 percent, as a result of being assigned to an ERO program. The programs also helped students earn 0.6 percentage points more of the core credits that they need to graduate.

On the downside, the estimated impact on students' GPA in core subject areas, credit accumulation, and standardized state test scores were not statistically significant in the school year following program participation (tenth grade for most students). Additionally, the ERO programs did not increase students' vocabulary scores, reading behaviors, student attendance rates, or reduce suspensions in either the program year or the following year.

In discussing the study, Marsha Silverberg, program officer at the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences, which was responsible for oversight of the evaluation, said it was important to remember the very low reading skills of the students in the study. "When we put out the call, we said [participants should read] at least two years behind, but I would think the students we ended up with had even lower reading skills than they expected," she told Education Week. "Remember, literacy doesn't get taught in high school, it doesn't even get taught in middle school. Explicit literacy basically stops in fifth grade. Is one year of a program enough to get these students on track to be adept readers when all their lives they weren't adept readers?"

The complete report is available at http://www.mdrc.org/publications/565/full.pdf.

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New Research Report Evaluates Effectiveness of Reading Programs for Adolescent Readers

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In an effort to provide more research on the needs of adolescent readers and the effective interventions that can address these needs, the U.S. Department of Education began the Enhanced Reading Opportunities (ERO) study. ERO is a demonstration and rigorous evaluation of supplemental literacy programs targeted to ninth-grade students whose reading skills are at least two years below grade level.

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Students in Andrew Hossack's 5th grade class use close reading strategies to determine the main idea and important details from a newspaper article about the Seneca people.

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Resources and strategies to help improve reading comprehension:

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Some students are reading below grade level, but even many of those who are at grade level seem to struggle with this as well.

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As I have begun to score more daily assignments/activities on a right/wrong basis, especially during the second semester, my students fail to answer "right there" questions correctly.

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I plan to study reading comprehension of informational text because I want to find out why many of my students struggle reading informational texts to show the relationship between strategies for improving informational text comprehension so that I may better understand ways to help students improve their comprehension of what they read.