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For the last several years, the National
Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) has
committed to support states in improving adolescent literacy
achievement.
The issue of literacy goes to the heart of
what NASBE and state boards consider their essential
work—instituting standards-based reforms that ensure
students are well-prepared to meet the demands of
employment, advanced training, and civic participation.
NASBE has done extensive work on this issue, first convening
a year-long study of adolescent literacy in 2005,
culminating in a final report disseminated nationally,
Reading at Risk: The State Response to the Crisis in
Adolescent Literacy. The report outlines recommendations
for policymakers that frame a new approach to meeting this
national crisis—one based on joint problem-solving,
collaborative practice, and collective accountability that
engages students in purposeful reading and writing in all
subjects being taught.
NASBE has now embarked on another effort to
work with states to tackle this serious issue through the
generous support of the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
According to the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP):
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Approximately two-thirds of 8th- and 12th-graders read below
the proficient level;
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For
minority students—only 11 percent of African Americans,
14 percent of Hispanics, and 18 percent of Native
Americans are reading at or above proficient level; and
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Overall, nearly half of African American
and Latino 8th-graders read below basic level.
Despite the convergence among researchers
about what constitutes effective reading instruction,
particularly with regard to teaching adolescent literacy
skills, a huge gap remains between these proven practices
and their widespread adoption by educators. States face
enormous challenges in taking to scale, those practices that
have been demonstrated to be effective. Policymakers must
become more engaged in developing and overseeing
comprehensive literacy policies that address the reading
needs of students from kindergarten through high school.
This year NASBE will launch a new project –
the State Adolescent Literacy Network – to create a national
network to guide state board of education leadership efforts
in crafting comprehensive state literacy initiatives that
are implemented within the context of core academic subjects
and as part of the states’ overall school improvement
initiatives. As stated in Reading at Risk, “the
literacy crisis cannot be solved in isolation with some
extra tutoring or supplementary programs for those unable to
read well—it will take a concerted statewide policy and
program effort that reaches deep into districts and the
instructional practices of teachers across the curriculum.”
NASBE has focused on developing specific
guidance on how states and districts must exercise policy
levers and leadership to generate real improvements in
literacy instruction as part of content area instruction.
In order to help states take a comprehensive approach to
improving literacy achievement, NASBE released From State
Policy to Classroom Practice: Improving Literacy Instruction
for All Students.
This document serves as guide how to craft
state polices and programs that lead to actual instructional
changes in the classroom, providing a roadmap of the actions
that must be taken at all levels –state, district, school,
and classroom—in order to impact instructional practices and
help students improve their reading skills.
NASBE is intent on providing policymakers
with the knowledge base about the research and issues
related to adolescent literacy, including the roles that
must be played by the state, district, practitioners, and
higher education. We will be building this web-site as one
of a number of tools to help state boards of education
tackle this urgent issue.
Please stay tuned for future developments.
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