Adolescent Literacy and Public Policy

The Impact of Literacy Problems on Policy Problems

Suggested Reading Donald Deshler, Annemarie Palincsar, Gina Biancarosa, and Marnie Nair, Informed Choices for Struggling Adolescent Readers. Newark, DE: Carnegie Corporation of New York, 2007. Jennifer Sloan McCombs, et al. Achieving State and National Literacy Goals, A Long Uphill Road: A Report to Carnegie Corporation of New York by the RAND Corporation. New York: RAND, 2005. Gina Biancarosa and Catherine E. Snow. Reading Next- A Vision for Action and Research in Middle and High School Literacy: A Report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education, 2004. Steve Graham and Dolores Perin. Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle and High Schools-A report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education, 2007. Standards for Middle and High School Literacy Coaches. Newark, DE: International Reading Association, 2006. The Next Chapter. Arlington, VA: National School Board Association

The National Governors Association — whose “members are the governors of the 50 states, three territories and two commonwealths”¹ — has made adolescent literacy one of its top priorities. In Reading to Achieve: A Governor’s Guide to Adolescent Literacy, they explain why:

“Neglecting students’ literacy has serious economic consequences for individuals and states. Today, almost 40 percent of high school graduates lack the reading and writing skills that employers seek, and almost a third of high school graduates who enroll in college require remediation. Deficits in basic skills cost the nation’s businesses, universities, and under-prepared high school graduates as much as $16 billion annually in lost productivity and remedial costs.

Literacy is a gateway to achievement and opportunity. On average, college graduates earn more than their high school graduate counterparts, while high school dropouts are four times more likely than college graduates to be unemployed. In addition, regardless of educational attainment, higher levels of literacy translate into higher earnings. Yet only 3 out of 10 eighth-graders in the United States today meet current standards for reading proficiency. Poor readers in elementary and middle school are not on track for success in school and for high school graduation. Failure to achieve certain levels of reading, writing and critical-thinking skills in high school narrows employment prospects and limits preparedness for civic participation.”²

Next: Developing Policy Mechanisms

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