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Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and Intervention Practices

Publication: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences
Date: 2008

Summary: The newest practice guide published by The Institute of Education Science (IES) offers specific recommendations that educators can use to improve literacy levels among students in upper elementary, middle, and high schools. IES publishes practice guides in education to bring available evidence and expertise to bear on the types of systemic challenges that cannot be addressed by single interventions or programs.

 

Excerpt

Arguably the most important goal for literacy instruction with adolescents is to increase their ability to comprehend complex text. Further, the goal is not simply to enable students to obtain facts or literal meaning from text (although that is clearly desirable), but also to make deeper interpretations, generalizations, and conclusions. Most state and national literacy standards require middle and high school students to go considerably beyond literal comprehension to be considered proficient readers. For example, the revised framework for the NAEP indicates that 8th graders who read at the proficient level should be able to "summarize major ideas, provide evidence in support of an argument, and analyze and interpret implicit causal relations." They should also be able to "analyze character motivation, make inferences..., and identify similarities across texts."

Copyright © 2008 by the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences. Reprinted with permission.
Kamil, M. L., Borman, G. D., Dole, J., Kral, C. C., Salinger, T., and Torgesen, J. Improving adolescent literacy: Effective classroom and intervention practices: A Practice Guide (NCEE #2008-4027). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.

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