Literacy

Effective reading and writing skills are essential to learning. At present, large numbers of young adults are deficient in these skills, as evidenced by enrolllment in remedial writing courses in postsecondary education and significant deficits in performance in reading comprehension among high schools students. Poor reading skills in high school are rooted in the elementary-schools years, particularly after the third grade when students are called upon not only to read words and sentences but to begin comprehending the meaning of more complex texts. The connection, therefore, between developing literacy skills in the early grades--often described as mastering the ability to "read to learn"--and success in high school, as well as college, is of great concern.

Recognizing that literacy and educational attainment go hand-in-hand, the Corporation, as part of its ongoing commitment to supporting the development of excellent public education in America's schools, has initiated an Advancing Literacy: Reading to Learn subprogram, which grows directly from what we learned as part of our work in redesigning the high school. Strategies in this area focus on on helping to improve intermediate and adolescent literacy, and to build research, practice and policy for literacy in students in grades four through twelve.

As research materials relating to this effort are published, the Corporation will make them available here or provide links to partner organizations working with us to improve literacy and learning for America's children.

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

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

Meeting Literacy Goals Set by No Child Left Behind: A Long Uphill Road, a report to Carnegie Corporation of New York by the Rand Corporation.