The State of Adolescent Literacy Today

Carnegie Corporation’s Advancing Literacy Initiative

Suggested Reading Anne Grosso de Leon. “America’s Literacy Challenge: Teaching Adolescents to Read to Learn.” Carnegie Results. Summer 2005. New York: Carnegie Corporation of New York, 2005. Catherine E. Snow and Gina Biancarosa, eds. Adolescent Literacy and the Achievement Gap: What Do We Know and Where Do We Go From Here? Carnegie Corporation of New York Adolescent Literacy Funders Meeting Report. New York: Carnegie Corporation of New York, 2003. Andrés Henríquez, The Evolution of an Adolescent Literacy Program: A Foundation’s Journey. Reading Research Quarterly, 40, 376-380, 2005.

Advancing Literacy, a relatively new subprogram of the Education Division, was created in 2003, after an extensive review that included consultations with the nation’s leading practitioners and researchers.

This review revealed that the teaching of reading in kindergarten through the third grade is well supported with research, practice and policy, but that the knowledge base for how to teach reading for grades beyond this point is very thin. The educational community faces a difficult challenge since what is expected in academic achievement for middle and high school students has significantly increased, yet the way in which students are taught to read, comprehend and write about subject matter has not kept pace with the demands of schooling. American 15-year-olds barely attain the standards of international literacy for youngsters their age, and during the past decade the average reading score of fourth graders has changed little. Readers who struggle during the intermediate elementary years face increasing difficulty throughout middle school and beyond.

Carnegie Corporation’s response to these findings was to create the Advancing Literacy subprogram and charge it with the daunting task of advancing literacy by affecting policy, practice and research.

(Click image to see full-size version.)

Since its inception through June 2006, the subprogram has distributed over $12 million in grants designed to:

• Examine current research and policies in the field of adolescent literacy, and promote further research and policy change in the field:
• See Adolescent Literacy and the Achievement Gap: What Do We Know and Where Do We Go From Here? [pdf] Carnegie Corporation of New York Adolescent Literacy Funders Meeting Report
  
  
• See Achieving State and National Literacy Goals, A Long Uphill Road: A Report to Carnegie Corporation of New York by the RAND Corporation.
  
  
• Visit the Web sites of representative Carnegie Advancing Literacy grantees:
• Alliance for Excellent Education
• National Association of State Boards of Education
• National Governors’ Association Center for Best Practices
• National Urban League
• University of Kansas, Center for Research, Inc
  
  
• Support further research in how best to teach adolescents, including English-language learners, the skills of reading, comprehension, reasoning, and writing.
• Visit the Web sites of representative Carnegie Advancing Literacy grantees:
• All Kinds of Minds
• CAST Resources, Inc.
• Center for Applied Linguistics
• Harvard University
• International Reading Association:
• Lake Forest University
• National Writing Project
• New York Institute for Special Education
• RAND Corporation
• University of Michigan
  
  
• Identify effective practices for teaching adolescent literacy, and disseminate them widely.
• See Reading Next: A Vision for Action and Research in Middle and High School Literacy, a report to Carnegie Corporation of New York, published by the Alliance for Excellent Education.
  
  
• Visit the Web sites of representative Carnegie Advancing Literacy grantees:
• Michigan State University
• University of Connecticut
• University of Kansas, Center for Research, Inc.
• University of Michigan
  
  
• Create incentives for schools of education and school districts to add professional development programs that would teach teachers how to integrate comprehension strategies within the content domains.
• Visit the Web sites of representative Carnegie Advancing Literacy grantees:
• Michigan State University
• National Association of Secondary School Principals
• National School Boards Association
• Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
• University of Kansas, Center for Research, Inc.
• University of Georgia Research Foundation
  
  
• Stimulate demand from the public for better literacy practices in grades four through twelve.
• Testimony of Andrés Henríquez. Hearing on: “The Role of Nonprofit Organizations in State and Local High School Reform Efforts. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, June 9, 2005.
  
  
• Visit the Web sites of representative Carnegie Advancing Literacy grantees:
• George Lucas Educational Foundation
• Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association, Inc.
• National Center for Family Literacy
• National Urban League

Click here for Advancing Literacy Subprogram list of grants to date

Next: Educating the Educator


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