Module 1: Adolescent Reading, Writing, and Thinking

1. Module 1: Adolescent Reading, Writing, and Thinking Adolescent Literacy – Professional Development Unit 3, Session 2

2. Adolescent Literacy:The Crisis and the Solutions 1.3.2

3. Its importance is heavily emphasized in policy Considerable attention from the federal government to the details of practice Lots of funding, relatively speaking Focus on assessments/accountability The scores that count are not improving Demands for improved literacy outputs are rising The State of Reading, Writ Large

4. Academic achievement depends on better literacy skills But the data are alarming: International comparisons of 15 year olds’ literacy: PISA (A. Schleicher) NAEP scores Dropout rates Postsecondary remediation What’s the Crisis?

5. 37% of students scored at Basic level & 23% at Below Basic level for reading Fewer than half of twelfth graders perform at or above the level expected by NAEP standards NAEP 12thGrade Reading Assessment Results Source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, NAEP 1998 Report Cards, 1999

6. Nearly half of African-American and Latino students fail to graduate from high school in 5 years (Greene & Forster, 2003; Orfield, Losen, Wald, & Swanson, 2004) High school drop-out rates among 16 to 24 year-olds in 2000: 10.9% overall 13.1% among African-Americans 27.8% among Hispanics 44.2% among immigrants born outside the U.S. 15.9% among second (or greater) generation immigrants Drop-Out Rates Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, October 2000

7. Only 30% of high school students graduate as proficient readers who are college-ready (Greene & Forster, 2003). 35 - 40% of high school graduates do not have the sophisticated reading and writing skills that employers seek (Achieve, Inc., 2005; Kaestle et al., 2001; National Commission on Writing, 2004). Half of all high school graduates or GED recipients exhibit the lowest levels of literacy (Kaestle et al., 2001). Post-Secondary Remediation

8. Dealing with struggling readers Wide array of skills present in the post-primary classroom Some students need intensive re-teaching Some need serious remediation All strugglers need help to make up for missed learning opportunities Teaching normally-developing readers new skills: New vocabulary and academic language Content-specific literacy skills New purposes for reading Two Adolescent Literacy Challenges

9. Inoculation has become the default model —focusing efforts exclusively on the early grades “Research-based practice” can mean we are like the drunk looking under the streetlamp for his keys E.g., we interpret adolescent literacy problems as primary reading problems, postponed E.g., we implement phonological awareness interventions rather than struggling to teach comprehension The Price of Success: Reading Excellence and Reading First

10. What Can We Learn from Reading Excellence?

11. Prevention, not instruction primary, secondary, and tertiary structural as much as instructional implies assessment to guide decisions Emergent literacy, not readiness Research consensus about skilled reading PRD Starting Points

12. Instruction to promote: Language and metalinguistic skills Understanding the functions of written language Both grasping and mastering the alphabetic system Motivation and positive affect around literacy PRD Recommendations

13. Excellent early reading instruction is part of a solid foundation for ongoing achievement. Investing time in effective teaching and not wasting time on ineffective teaching are key. Literacy instruction should be coordinated across the preprimary, primary, and later grades. We can identify and correct weaknesses in early literacy programs. The Accomplishments of Reading Excellence: Agreement that…

14. Focus on instruction, not prevention Mandated use of assessments for accountability Presumption regarding central role of teacher/school expectations in influencing student achievement Perverse incentives regarding high standards Important but tricky disaggregation strategy Attention to AYP rather than growth Reading First

15. Phonological awareness (15-18 hrs) Systematic phonics instruction Fluency Vocabulary Comprehension strategies National Reading Panel Report Recommendations about Instruction

16. For post-primary grades: Other kinds of comprehension instruction Classroom discussion Content-area-specific literacy skills Writing Motivation and interest Establishing a purpose for reading What’s Missing?

17. The goals of primary reading instruction are really high school academic achievement. There is too little focus on comprehension during primary reading instruction And too little reading instruction of any kind after grade 3 Reading Comprehension

18. Create agenda for R&D programs focused on reading comprehension Promote constructive debate about the agenda Increase communications among members of reading research and practice communities Submit agenda to U.S. Dept. of Education to support appropriations proposals RAND Reading Group Study (RRGS) Goals

19. The process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language RRGS’s Definition of Reading Comprehension

20. A Heuristic for Thinking about Reading Comprehension

21. Comprehension can be taught starting in preschool And needs to be taught across all grades Building oral language skills is a key component of reading comprehension instruction across the grades Too much focus on print skills alone may decrease attention to comprehension precursors RRGS-Based Conclusions

22. Not really, because…. Is a Focus on Comprehension by Itself Adequate to Solve the Problem?

23. Word reading accuracy Word reading fluency Making inferences from the text Integrating new text-based knowledge with pre-existing knowledge Understanding the language of the texts Having the background knowledge presupposed by the texts Motivation and interest in the text Establishing a purpose for reading Adolescent Readers Have to Master…

24. Integrate reading instruction with content learning goals Manage the distributed structures of middle/high schools Find a place in the curriculum to focus on reading English teachers tend to focus on literature, not reading Other content-area teachers are rarely prepared, and sometimes unwilling, to teach reading Design practice based on a relatively scanty research base Successful Practitioners with Adolescent Readers Have To…

25. New reading tasks, even for children prepared very well at pre-K – Grade 3 Components of pre-K – Grade 3 instruction key for comprehension are still not being adequately implemented Too many 4th– 12th graders are struggling Reading Next Challenges

26. Widespread Inevitable if there is a mismatch between reader and text, reader and activity, text and activity A problem that should become a focus of instruction The Problem of Comprehension in the Content Areas Among Grade 4-12 students

27. Solid research provides a basis for making progress Assessment is a key step in organizing instruction Consensus serves the field better than dissensus Models of excellent instruction should be studied Wisdom of practice has been undervalued What Do We Know from Work on Early Literacy?

28. Identify student literacy needs, at group and individual levels Teach all students systematically Teach all students reading for learning in every class Give struggling students extra help designed to address their needs Steps to Helping All Students Read Better

29. READING NEXT http://www.all4ed.org/publications/ReadingNext/ReadingNext.pdf READING NEXT A VISION FOR ACTION AND RESEARCH IN MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL LITERACY A Report to Carnegie Corporation of New York

30. Direct, explicit comprehension instruction Effective instruction embedded in content Motivation and self-directed learning Text-based collaborative learning Strategic tutoring Diverse texts Intensive writing A technology component Ongoing formative assessment of students Fifteen Key Elements: Nine Instructional Improvements

31. Extended time for literacy Professional development Ongoing summative assessment of students and programs Teacher teams Leadership Comprehensive and coordinated literacy program Fifteen Key Elements: Six Infrastructure Improvements

32. Indispensable elements are: Professional development Ongoing formative assessment of students Ongoing summative assessment of students and programs 15 – 3 = 0

33. www.serpinstitute.org www.carnegie.org/literacy www.rand.org/achievementforall www.gse.harvard.edu/~snow More Information

34. References Biancarosa, G., & Snow, C. E. (2004). Reading next - A vision for action and research in middle and high school literacy: A report from Carnegie Corporation of New York. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [NICHD]. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction (No. NIH Publication No. 00-4769). Washington, DC: U.S.: U.S. Government Printing Office. Perie, M., Moran, R., & Lutkus, A. (2005). NAEP 2004 trends in academic progress: Three decades of student performance in reading and mathematics. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. RAND Reading Study Group. (2002). Reading for understanding: Toward an R&D program in reading comprehension. Santa Monica, CA: Rand. Snow, C., Burns, M. S., & Griffin, P. (1998). Preventing reading difficulties in young children. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.