Three reports call for greater attention to
adolescent literacy; NASSP cites
importance of school leadership

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(A photo from our 2005 Summer Leadership Institute.)

Lew Armistead
LA Communications
    

     Three national organizations recently have issued reports on adolescent reading, calling for a greater focus and citing the importance of committed school leaders to improve reading.

The reports are—

• Creating a Culture of Literacy: A Guide for Middle   and High School Principals, published by the   National Association of Secondary School Principals   (NASSP);

• Reading to Achieve: A Governor’s Guide to   Adolescent Literacy, published by the National   Governors Association (NGA); and

• Reading at Risk: The State Response to the Crisis in   Adolescent Literacy, published by the National Association of   State Boards of Education (NASBE).

     The NASSP report calls for greater focus on reading skills at the high and middle school levels, and points out that many schools don’t have the necessary resources to increase reading skills. NASSP specifically cites a more highly trained staff, resources, and funding to allow supplemental and supportive literacy programs.

     To create a highly successful high school literacy program several elements must be in place, according to NASSP.

They include—

• committed and supportive school leaders,

• balanced formal and informal assessments that guide the learning of students and teachers,

• ongoing, job-embedded, research-based professional development,

• highly effective teachers in every content area that model and provide explicit instruction to improve comprehension, and

• strategic and accelerated intervention.

The report reads in part—

     “Strong leadership from both administrators and teachers is an essential building block in constructing a successful literacy program, but the role played by the principal is key to determining success or failure of the program. To have an effective program, the school leader must be involved in all aspects of planning and sustaining the program. Above all, this must include participation in professional development sessions so that he or she is fully aware of successful strategies needed to improve literacy across the curriculum. To be an effective literacy leader in the building, the principal must be viewed by the teachers as a role model of a reflective, life-long learner and have their respect as knowledgeable in the area of adolescent literacy.”

More information about the NASSP report can be found at http://www.principals.org/s_nassp/sec.asp?CID=62&DID=62.

     The governors association cites five existing “best practices” in states that will help governors develop greater support for literacy improvement.

They are—

• build support for a state focus on adolescent   literacy,

• raise literacy expectations across grades and   curricula,

• support school and district literacy plans,

• build educators’ capacity to provide adolescent   literacy instruction; and

• measure progress in adolescent literacy at school,   district and state levels.

The NGA report can be found at http://www.nga.org/Files/pdf/0510GOVGUIDELITERACY.PDF.

     NASBE calls upon states to “develop and vigorously implement a statewide literacy plan to ensure that all students can read proficiently.” It reports that states have not implemented full-scale efforts to improve literacy.

     “As literacy skills improve, student achievement rises not only in reading and writing but across the curriculum spectrum, a benefit that has profound consequences for the ultimate success of standards-based reform,” the report reads.

For an executive summary of the NASBE report go to
 http://www.nasbe.org/recent_pubs/adol%20literacy%20exec%20summary.pdf

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