– Elie Wiesel

"I am beginning to wonder whether there is a political and public mindset that literacy learning is critical only in early childhood. The faulty and misguided assumption, ‘If young children learn to read early on, they will read to learn throughout their lives,’ results in more harm than good."

– Richard Vacca, past President, International Reading Association

Sections of the Report: Background International Reading Association Position Statement on Adolescent Literacy A Profile of the Struggling Reader Figure 1: Characteristics of Struggling and Strong Readers A District-Wide Commitment to Struggling Readers Figure 2: A Total School Committment to Struggling Readers Implementation

Background

In the May, 1998 Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, Richard Vacca, past President of the International Reading Association, decried a pervasive national lack of commitment to the literacy development of adolescent learners. Vacca lamented what he terms the "benign neglect" of older literacy learners: minuscule funding for research in secondary reading, the dearth of reading teachers and specialists at the secondary level, and the nearly total omission of adolescent literacy development from state and national educational dialogue.

The Madison Metropolitan School District has had a long, pioneering history of providing excellent education in reading at the secondary level. High school reading support has included: staff development of all secondary teachers and principals (the Negotiated Reading Inservice); reading consultants collaborating with teachers to improve reading in the content areas; remedial, corrective and advanced courses designed to meet the needs of all readers; tutoring centers to help individual students with learning; and district coordination of secondary reading services. Over the years many of these services have dwindled or disappeared at some high schools because of allocation or personnel decisions. However, our district’s current renewed commitment to excellence in secondary reading instruction is heartening.

A student’s ability to read is key for success in all academic areas as well as in life itself. Therefore, the High School Reading Task Force is charged by the district to study the needs of struggling readers. Specifically, we are to review current programs and practices in the Madison high schools; to identify and define the struggling readers who will have difficulty meeting standards; to search for best practices and programs to help struggling readers; and to make recommendations for how our schools can best meet the reading needs of all students.

To accomplish these purposes the High School Reading Task Force affirms the International Reading Association Position on Adolescent Literacy adopted in 1999, which offers to our district a coherent, national statement of philosophy for secondary reading.

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International Reading Association Position Statement on Adolescent Literacy

Adolescents entering the adult world will do more reading and writing tasks than at any other time in human history. They will need reading and writing to cope with the flood of information they will find about the world as it exists. They will also need to use literacy to feed their imaginations so that they can create the world of the future. In a complex, diverse, and sometimes even dangerous world, their ability to read is crucial, and, therefore, it is essential not only to help them survive, but also to help them thrive.

The reading, writing, and language development of adolescents is just as important and requires just as much attention as that of beginning readers. Even when they have mastered the basics of reading and writing adolescents still have much to learn about spoken and written language.

Despite the need for reading instruction to continue during the adolescent years, state and federal funding for middle and high school reading programs has decreased. For example, fewer and fewer schools are able to hire reading specialists who help individual students and who help teachers of all subjects become more effective teachers of reading. The limited number of reading education courses currently required for pre-service middle and high school teachers does not sufficiently prepare them to respond to the escalating needs of adolescent learners.

Because of the expanding literacy demands placed upon adolescents, we believe that they deserve:

• Access to a wide variety of reading material that they can and want to read
• Instruction that builds both the skill and desire to read increasingly complex materials
• Assessment that shows them their strengths as well as their needs and that guides their teachers to design instruction that will best help them grow as readers
• Trained teachers who model and provide explicit instruction in reading comprehension and studying strategies across the curriculum
• Reading specialists who assist individual students having difficulty learning how to read
• Teachers who are trained to understand the complexities of individual adolescent readers, respect their differences, and respond to their unique characteristics
• Homes, communities and a nation that will not only support their efforts to achieve advanced levels of literacy, but also provide the very support necessary for them to succeed (IRA, 1999)

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A Profile of the Struggling Reader

The development of competent, proficient readers capable of using reading for learning in all content areas is the goal of all high school personnel. With appropriate instruction, students can move developmentally from struggling to strong readers. Sometimes struggling readers will show high motivation and skills when faced with easy reading materials that are relevant and interesting to them. At other times, even the most proficient reader will act like a struggling reader when faced with difficult, complex or unfamiliar material. All students can be helped and guided in the development of strong reading skills and strategies.

Who are the struggling readers in our schools? Struggling readers are those high school students who perform at minimal and low basic levels on the WSAS test, are at risk of failing their academic subjects, and are failing to realize their potential. WSAS scores for the l998-99 eighth graders, our current freshmen, showed 13% scoring at the minimal range, 11% at the low basic range, and 9% not tested. The results of the l998-99 WSAS tests for tenth graders indicate that 8% performed at minimal range, 11% at the basic range, and 16% were not tested. These results indicate that as students progress into high school many low-achieving students may either drop out or are not tested.

Figure 1 illustrates the characteristics of struggling readers in comparison with strong readers when approaching grade-level reading tasks:

FIGURE 1: CHARACTERISTICS OF STRUGGLING AND STRONG READERS

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A District-Wide Commitment to Struggling Readers

The Madison Metropolitan School District's quest to identify best practices for helping students develop from struggling readers to strong readers needs to include the adequate reading development of adolescent learners. The recommendations in this report are based on recent scholarships culled from a variety of sources and on professional positions advocated by the International Reading Association Commission on Adolescent Literacy (1999) as well as the Wisconsin State Reading Association (1995). The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction State Curriculum Guides in Reading (1986), Strategic Learning in the Content Areas (1989), and Turning Points: Preparing American Youth for the 21^st Century also provide a research-based foundation for these recommendations.

Researchers who have examined the needs of high school students who need to progress from struggling readers to strong readers have identified four major concerns:

1. Struggling readers may receive no additional instruction in reading that continues to build their reading abilities.
2. Struggling readers may receive reading instruction in remedial programs that are isolated from the learning demands expected of them the rest of the day in their content classes.
3. Struggling readers are frequently expected to perform independently in their content classrooms without the benefit of teaching strategies that foster their learning and without the availability of additional support, such as tutoring.
4. Struggling readers may have to cope with learning in high school with no access to professionals trained in the teaching of reading.

This report acknowledges the above concerns and recommends that effective instruction of struggling readers in Madison high schools requires a total school commitment. This commitment translates into three essential components (see Figure 2):

1. Classroom interventions: which emphasize teaching strategies which assist struggling readers, both in the effective learning of content as well as reinforcing their growth as readers
   
   
2. Reading instruction: by trained reading teachers that recognizes the developmental needs of struggling readers and is coordinated with the general school reading program
   
   
3. Support for learning: in content classes, such as tutoring assistance and skill development, which is offered within a class, during study periods, or outside the school day

FIGURE 2: A TOTAL SCHOOL COMMITTMENT TO STRUGGLING READERS

Struggling Readers

Developmental Reading Instruction		Classroom Learning Strategies throughout the Curriculum
Study Support/ Training

The above recommendations presuppose that struggling readers are served within the context of a total school reading program. Historically, attempts to address the needs of struggling readers solely through remedial interventions without also developing their potential as readers and learners in their content classes have met with disappointing results. The WSAS 10 test mandates that struggling readers successfully demonstrate their skills in the context of their content classrooms in history and geography, in the sciences, in mathematics, and in the English/language arts. Therefore, any reading program that hopes to prepare struggling readers must involve a recognition throughout the curriculum that reading is a cornerstone of learning in all content areas, and that struggling readers need classroom strategies that will further their growth as readers and learners.

The high school reading program must be integral to a comprehensive K-12 curriculum. The focus of the high school reading program is to develop students who:

• Are able to use reading as a primary method of learning;
• Are able to learn from increasingly complex content area reading materials;
• Are able to communicate effectively using reading and writing;
• Are prepared for reading demands beyond high school and in the workplace;
• Acquire the habit of reading for enjoyment as a life-long pursuit

We heartily agree with the Wisconsin State Reading Association Position Statement on High School Reading which delineates the following ten attributes of an effective total school reading program:

1. Reading is emphasized as essential to learning in high school subjects. High school teachers provide instruction in and modeling of effective strategies that help students become active, purposeful, and increasingly independent learners.

2. The high school reading program focuses on curricular integration of reading instruction into content area courses in order to meet the reading needs of all high school students.

3. The high school reading program is based on the recognition among teachers, administrators, and parents that high school students continue to have needs in reading, especially in reading to learn.

4. The high school reading program regards reading as a developmental process. Reading instruction across the curriculum recognizes the individual abilities, needs, and learning styles of all students, including gifted, remedial, ESL, and EEN students.

5. The high school reading program is designed to prepare students for a variety of literacy demands, including the reading of both expository and narrative texts, the reading of technical materials, the reading of information presented in visual displays such as charts and graphs, and reading and learning through interactions with technology.

6. The high school reading program is implemented with involvement of high school teachers, administrators, reading personnel, and parents, and the high school program is coordinated with the elementary and middle school developmental programs.

7. The high school reading program has adequate access to reading specialist services. These services include modeling effective strategies to teachers and students, sharing current research on reading and learning, and providing ongoing staff development and resource support for high school teachers.

8. The high school reading program fosters collaborative relationships among content teachers, reading specialists, support staff, administrators, students, and parents. Joint planning time between teachers and reading specialists is encouraged to achieve this goal.

9. The high school reading program features discrete courses in reading development, taught by licensed reading personnel. Such courses are consistent with the goals of the high school reading program and these classes compliment the high school content curriculum.

10. Teachers and administrators receive comprehensive training, both preservice and inservice, for meeting the reading and learning needs of high school students (WSRA, 1995).

Clearly adequately addressing struggling readers’ needs in high school requires a multi-faceted approach: specialized reading instruction, classroom teachers who understand and are capable of teaching reading and study strategies appropriate to content areas, and special study supports such as tutoring.

The ultimate goal of reading instruction is to develop independent readers and thinkers. Reading is a tool that spans disciplines, is integrated into all content areas, and addresses delivery. A reading program is not a reading class; it is a total school’s commitment to literacy.

Let’s examine how school and district infrastructures can support the teaching of literacy, including the training of teachers, if struggling readers are to become competent at the high school level.

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Implementation

The High School Reading Task Force advocates the following steps to implement our recommendations for both a district-wide and total school commitment to struggling readers:

District Level

Designate a district Reading Coordinator who will:

• Develop and monitor the district-wide reading program
• Facilitate K-12 reading task forces
• Appoint and facilitate a reading council comprised of reading teachers across the district
• Help coordinate school needs with reading allocation/placement
• Evaluate each year the reading progress of Madison students
• Provide a clearinghouse for reading programs and strategies
• Develop a reading professional library for district teachers
• Publish a monthly newsletter of reading strategies and resources
• Coordinate inservices for Madison teachers
• Administer the reading budget
• Serve as a liaison with state and national colleagues to keep abreast of current research and practice

Create a "Grow Your Own" reading specialist program:

• The Reading Coordinator and district reading specialists identify and mentor teachers interested in deepening their reading knowledge to pursue advanced course work, eventually moving toward assuming reading positions in our high schools.

School Administrative Level

The Principal:

• Understands what adolescent literacy is and what it requires
• Hires a reading specialist
• Schedules extra class time for struggling readers to receive instruction in addition to English or language arts, i.e. 90-minute block or an extra reading period
• Collaborates with reading personnel to develop a school reading profile including student data and available reading services
• Designs a system for heightening teacher awareness of both the reading profile and the strategies/resources to meet the needs of students
• Assigns reading staff for the reading program, including additional instruction for struggling readers
• Evaluates the school reading program
• Provides leadership and demonstrates ongoing support for a school-wide reading program
• Acknowledges the importance of implementing reading strategies across the curriculum
• Promotes and celebrates literacy events school-wide, i.e. book fairs, reading incentives, etc.
• Supports a total school sustained silent-reading time each day

Reading Specialist Level

• Collaborates with the principal to design, implement and evaluate the reading program
• Supports and is a resource for classroom teachers and coordinates with EEN teachers
• Provides testing help - collects, analyzes, organizes, and presents data to staff
• Provides information to parents via workshops, newsletters, and enlists their help
• Collects, analyzes, organizes, and presents data to staff
• Provides information to parents via workshops, newsletters, and enlists their help
• Coordinates the tutoring program
• Works with teachers and librarians on text and materials selection, including readability levels
• Collaborates with teachers to design and adapt curriculum, incorporating study strategies
• Teaches reading classes
• Peer coaches and models learning strategies in the content area classrooms
• Encourages colleagues' professional development in reading
• Facilitates staff development for the implementing of best practices
• Customizes staff development to meet school's needs and goals
• Provides support as the school assesses building-level student needs
• Provides ongoing articulation between the district Reading Coordinator and the designated school
• Serves as a liaison with state and national colleagues to keep abreast of current research and best practices and to disseminate this information to staff

Reading Teacher Level (in progress)

• Teaches classes targeted for struggling readers, developmental reading classes for all students, and classes for college-bound students

Classroom Teacher Level

• Understands that reading is a process of learning to gain meaning from print
• Models reading for pleasure as well as for content
• Reads aloud to students for various purposes, i.e., to demonstrate the thinking process, to share the sheer joy of reading
• Provides pre-reading, during reading and post-reading activities
• Is aware of and implements reading and writing strategies across the curriculum
• Works with the reading specialist to meet individual student needs
• Monitors reading progress of students
• Provides time for students to practice and enjoy reading
• Provides a variety of reading experiences (lab, text, newspapers, current events materials), some student self-selected
• Consciously and consistently implements the goals of the school-wide reading program

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Language Arts | Teaching and Learning | MMSD

Updated: February 9, 2001
Editor & Publisher: Jeff Sutherland, jsutherland@madison.k12.wi.us
Language Arts Coordinator: Mary Watson-Peterson, mwatsonpeter@madison.k12.wi.us
webmaster: webmaster@madison.k12.wi.us