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Does Literacy Matter?. Definitions of Literacy. Definition that applies today …. Literacy is understanding, developing, and reflecting on written, oral, or visual text in order to increase knowledge, achieve goals, and participate in society. Florida Literacy and Reading Excellence project
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Definition that applies today …. • Literacy is understanding, developing, and reflecting on written, oral, or visual text in order to increase knowledge, achieve goals, and participate in society. • Florida Literacy and Reading Excellence project • Consider what students have to do today to perform well on state tests!! What is today’s definition of literacy???
4th Grade Finland United States Sweden France Italy New Zealand Norway Iceland Hong Kong Singapore 9th grade Finland France Sweden New Zealand Hungary Iceland Switzerland Hong Kong United States Singapore Countries Ranked in Reading Achievement: Total ScoreSource: IEA Int’l Literacy Study, USDOE, 1996
Over the last 20 years, there has been no improvement in the NAEP 8th grade or 12th grade reading scores. • Today 25% of entering 9th graders cannot read well enough to succeed in high school courses. • Of every 100 students entering high school, 67 graduate and only 26 are enrolled in college after their first year. • Almost two-thirds of secondary students reading below basic levels attend suburban or rural schools. Source: Nat’l Assessment of Educational Progress, 2002; Jobs for the Future 2003.
Approximately 75% of state prison inmates neither graduated from high school nor earned a GED (Harlow, 2003). • High school dropouts are 3.5 times more likely than high school graduates to be arrested in their lifetimes (Catterall, 2001). • A one-year increase in average education levels would reduce arrest rates by 11% (Lochner & Moretti, 2001).