Results from national reading assessments reveal that millions of young people leave high school without the advanced reading and writing skills required for career and college success. Young adults who lack reading and writing proficiency will likely be relegated to the ranks of unskilled workers in a world where literacy is an absolute precondition for success. The disastrous outcomes for portions of the student population by race, ethnicity, and income level reverberate through the nation’s educational system. Unless the nation makes a consistent investment toward delivering comprehensive reading and writing instruction throughout the pre-K–12 grade span, a large proportion of low-income students and students of color will remain sidelined from full participation in the modern workplace. While federal and state strategies have begun to focus on the adolescent literacy crisis, more than ever it is time to build upon these initial efforts. This policy brief describes the role that the federal government can play to advocate for a comprehensive, national, and schoolwide focus on K–12 literacy.

The need for new forms of schooling with a learner-centered focus underlies the urgency to retool and enhance the systems that are used to leverage improvements in teaching and learning. In order to transform education at this most fundamental level, policy leaders and educators must focus on crafting integrated systems for defining and developing teacher effectiveness. These policies must take into account capacity building for educators. Solutions cannot be brief or superficial; they must address widespread inconsistencies in what students are expected to achieve and the knowledge and competencies teachers must bring to ensure their success. This brief examines the misalignment of current policies that shape teacher development in the United States and suggests ways to reframe human capital systems to deliver on the promise of next-generation learning.

When the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was drafted and signed into law, little attention was paid to the unique challenges that exist in the nation’s high schools and what is best known about how to improve them. As a result, the law emerged with provisions that often neglect, or that are even at odds with, the needs of America’s millions of high school students, particularly the six million students who are most at risk of dropping out of school each year. The brief describes these design and implementation flaws and how they undermine the educational and equity promises of NCLB at the high school level. In Need of Improvement: NCLB and High Schools calls on Congress to take the opportunity during the reauthorization of the law to build on the ideals of “no child left behind” and pass legislation that will lead the nation toward “every child a graduate.”

In March 2007, legislation was introduced in the U.S. House and Senate to authorize the Striving Readers program, designed to support high-quality reading and writing instruction for millions of students in grades 4–12. But skeptics may wonder: Is there sufficient research to justify a major new federal investment in this area? As this Issue Brief shows, there have been significant findings related to instruction in grades 4-12, the knowledge base on adolescent literacy continues to expand, and the research does indeed provide a solid foundation for effective policymaking.

More than eight million children in America in grades four through twelve read at “below basic” levels, according to results from the most recent National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) test. In recent months, the policymaking community has begun to respond to this national crisis by making recommendations to provide resources for programs designed to help struggling older children improve their literacy skills. The Pathways for All Students to Succeed (PASS) Act and the Graduation for All Act are two of these initiatives; they are described in more detail in this brief.

Literacy is often broadly defined as the ability to read, write, speak, listen, and think critically. Research shows that being literate is closely linked to one’s ability to access power and negotiate the world around them. Young people need to develop strong literacy skills to communicate effectively, gain respect from peers and authority, participate in their communities in a meaningful way, and fully contribute to society. Building literacy, therefore, goes far beyond improving a child’s ability to read and write. It speaks to the larger societal issues of access and equity. In our society, being literate opens doors, allowing one to access power, and in many cases, helps to level the playing field. However, approximately 1 in 4 young people are struggling to read and comprehend grade level textbooks and subject matter materials as they enter middle and high school.

While more research needs to be done in the area of adolescent literacy, there is growing agreement about some of the characteristics successful literacy intervention programs share. The purpose of this brief is to provide information to help policymakers, educators, parents, and others concerned with adolescent literacy make informed decisions about literacy programs for struggling readers and the programs' suitability for specific groups of students. The brief is not intended for an audience of literacy experts, and does not pretend to offer a comprehensive program evaluation guide; rather, it is designed to help decision makers ask the right questions when assessing literacy programs for selection for federal, state, and local funding.

Over the years, educational research has provided important insights into how children learn to read. In the last decade, it also has been influential in helping to create new programs, teaching practices, and policies that support the goal of all children reading well by the end of third grade. Yet, while most researchers would agree that early reading is important, the unfortunate truth remains that millions of middle and high school students are still struggling to read long after their third-grade year is over.

According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, only about a quarter of the nation’s middle and high school students are proficient in writing. Even among students who plan to go to college, roughly a third fall short of readiness benchmarks for college-level writing composition. Yet, the ability to write plays an increasingly important role both in the workplace and everyday life, and while previous generations of students might have been able to get by without strong literacy skills, today’s adolescents cannot afford to leave high school without being able to write clear, compelling texts, for a variety of purposes and audiences. This Policy Brief offers a succinct overview of the data on student writing achievement, the need for more and better writing instruction, and a number of ways in which policymakers can support school improvement in this area.

Over the past four decades, Congress has directed substantial resources toward improving young children’s literacy skills, and that investment has grown significantly in recent years. Through initiatives such as Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (better known as the No Child Left Behind Act), Reading First, and Head Start, the federal government has spent billions of dollars promoting vital research and improved reading instruction in the home, in preschool settings, and during the first few years of elementary school. As long as millions of young readers continue to struggle, this work should remain a high priority.