NCTE Principles of Adolescent Literacy Reform - National Council of ...

1NCTE PrinciplesofAdolescent Literacy ReformA Policy Research BriefProduced byThe National Council of Teachers of EnglishApril 2006The James R. Squire Office for Policy ResearchThe National Council of Teachers of English

2PREFACEOver 8 million students in grades 4–12read below grade level, and 3,000students with limited literacy skillsdrop out of high school every school day. Whilethe No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 triggeredhighly publicized reports on low levels ofreading achievement in America’s elementaryschools, middle and high school students facedifferent but no less important literacy challenges.Economic, social, moral, and political forcesall point to the critical role literacy plays in ournational culture and economy. Schools representthe most powerful and pervasive means ofintroducing the next generation into a cultureof literacy. Traditionally, educators have focusedon the development of literacy in the earlygrades, assuming that older students did not needspecial instruction. Recently, however, it hasbecome clear that many middle and high schoolstudents are increasingly under-literate, lackingthe complex literacy skills they will need to besuccessful in an information-driven economy. Arecent report by ACT shows that only about halfof our nation’s high school students are able toread complex texts. Defined in terms of subtle,involved, or deeply embedded ideas, highly sophisticatedinformation, elaborate or unconventionalstructure, intricate style, context-dependentvocabulary, and implicit purposes, complextexts appear frequently in college and the workplace(ACT, 2006). The challenges posed bysignificant numbers of under-literate middle andhigh school students who lack the skills necessaryto function successfully in today’s world areas daunting as they are significant.The National Council of Teachers of English(NCTE), the professional association representingover 50,000 English/language arts teachers,brings valuable insights and resources to thisimportant issue. With its rich store of researchbasedmaterials and its capacity to provide rigorousand systematic professional developmentand literacy coaching for middle and high schoolteachers, NCTE is uniquely positioned to takea leadership role in a national effort to improvethe literacy capacities of adolescents. Thisdocument delineates the problems of adolescentliteracy and outlines reforms NCTE has identifiedas necessary to address them.The National Council of Teachers of English

3TABLE OF CONTENTSSection IOverview of Adolescent Literacy 4Introduction: A Growing Under-Literate Class 4What is Adolescent Literacy? 5What Strategies Foster Adolescent Literacy? 6Meeting the Challenge 7Section IIProfessional Development:The Route to Reform 8The Importance of Teacher Quality 8Centrality of Professional Development 8High Quality Professional Development 9Professional Development and Student Achievement 11Section IIIProfessional Development to ImproveAdolescent Literacy 12Professional Communities in Secondary Schools 12Interdisciplinary Collaboration 13Literacy Coaching 14Conclusion 16Works Cited 17The James R. Squire Office for Policy Research

4SECTION IOVERVIEW OF ADOLESCENT LITERACYIntroduction:A Growing Under-Literate ClassThe problems of adolescent literacy echo throughseveral recent reports.• The American Institutes for Research (AIR)reports that only 13% of American adults arecapable of performing complex literacy tasks.• The National Assessment of EducationalProgress (NAEP) shows that secondaryschool students are reading significantly belowexpected levels.• The National Assessment of Adult Literacy(NAAL) finds that literacy scores of highschool graduates have dropped between 1992and 2003.• The National Center for Educational Statistics(NCES) reports a continuing and significantreading achievement gap between certainracial/ethnic/SES groups.• The Alliance for Excellent Education (AEE)points to 8.7 million secondary school students—thatis one in four—who are unableto read and comprehend the material in theirtextbooks.• The 2005 ACT College Readiness Benchmarkfor Reading found that only about half thestudents tested were ready for college-levelreading, and the 2005 scores were the lowestin a decade.Meanwhile, our knowledge-based societyand information-driven economy increasinglydemand a more highly literate population. Inthe 21st century United States, it is not enoughto be able to read and write—the literacy demandsof the global marketplace have grownmore complicated. The U.S. economy dependsupon developing new generations of workerswho are competent and confident practitionersof complex and varied forms of literacy. Readingcomplex texts requires ability to discern deeplyembedded ideas, comprehend highly sophisticatedinformation, negotiate elaborate structuresand intricate style, understand context-dependentvocabulary, and recognize implicit purposes.Both higher education and the workplace presentreaders with complex texts. Without a highlyliterate pool of job applicants, employers areforced to look off-shore for well-trained andhighly literate workers from other countries. Inother words, our nation cannot afford an underliterateworkforce.Our nationcannot afford anunder-literateworkforce.At a time when the United States is fosteringdemocracy in other parts of the world, thousandsof American students are unable to use writteninformation to make informed decisions. Whenthese under-literate students leave school, theyare not prepared to participate effectively in ademocratic society. The powerful growth ofthe Internet and increased reliance on electroniccommunication—where complex literacy skillsare essential—requires enhanced capacities ofall who seek social and intellectual resources.The moral imperatives that led the United Statesto establish public schools during the early daysThe National Council of Teachers of English

5of nationhood remain: schooling must producecitizens sufficiently skilled in literacy to helpfoster the greater good within our nation and inthe world beyond.What is Adolescent Literacy?For adolescents, literacy is more than readingand writing. It involves purposeful social andcognitive processes. It helps individuals discoverideas and make meaning. It enables functionssuch as analysis, synthesis, organization, andevaluation. It fosters the expression of ideas andopinions and extends to understanding how textsare created and how meanings are conveyed byvarious media, brought together in productiveways. This complex view of literacy builds uponbut extends beyond definitions of literacy thatfocus on features like phonemic awareness andword recognition.Literacy skills come into play in many waysfor all adolescents and adults, encompassing abroad range of domains. These include:• analyzing arguments• comparing editorial viewpoints• decoding nutrition information on foodpackaging• assembling furniture• taking doses of medicine correctly• determining whether to vote for a stateamendment• interpreting medical tables• identifying locations on a map• finding information onlineLiteracy enables learning in a variety of disciplinesin complex and important ways. Researchshows, for example, that a media-literacycurriculum can lead students to read with higherLiteracy is not a technicalskill acquired onceand for all in theprimary grades.comprehension scores, write longer paragraphs,and identify more features of purpose and audiencein reading selections ( Hobbs & Frost,2003). Moreover, literacy is not a technical skillacquired once and for all in the primary grades.Rather, students develop it over many years, andthat development continues well into adolescenceand beyond.Adolescents bring many literacy resourcesto middle school and high school, but they faceseveral challenges. The academic discoursesand disciplinary concepts in such fields as science,mathematics, and the social studies entailnew forms, purposes, and processing demandsthat pose difficulties for some adolescents. Theyneed teachers to show them how literacy operateswithin academic disciplines. In particular,adolescents need instruction that integratesliteracy skills into each school discipline so theycan learn from the texts they read. Adolescentsalso need instruction that links their personalexperiences and their texts, making connectionsbetween students’ existing literacy resourcesand the ones necessary for various disciplines(Alvermann & Moore, 1991). When instructiondoes not address adolescents’ literacy needs,motivation and engagement are diminished.Motivation is the factor that leads students toread or not, and engagement means choosingto read when faced with other options (Guthrieand Wigfield, 2000). Without a curriculum thatfosters qualities of motivation and engagement,adolescents risk becoming under-literate.The James R. Squire Office for Policy Research

6What Strategies FosterAdolescent Literacy?Research offers many effective strategies thatpromote and increase adolescent literacy. Reformingprograms of adolescent literacy demandsstrategies that target motivation, comprehension,and critical thinking.MotivationThe question of motivation presents one of themost perplexing issues of adolescent literacy.Many students who are able to read and writechoose not to, rendering many forms of instructionineffectual. Furthermore, as this behaviorbecomes ingrained, students can become lesslikely to become engaged with literacy practices.Research shows, however, ways to increase studentmotivation toward literacy.• Strategy Instruction: Teaching students tomonitor their own literacy practices, to lookfor information, to interpret literature, and todraw on their own prior knowledge enhancesmotivation (Guthrie et al., 1996).• Diverse Texts: Sustained experience withdiverse texts in a variety of genres that offermultiple perspectives on life experiences canenhance motivation, particularly if texts includeelectronic and visual media (Greenleafet al., 2001).• Self-selection of Texts: Many texts must beread in common by an entire class, as the curriculumdictates, but allowing some discretionfor students to choose their own textsincreases motivation, especially because theseselections can help students make connectionsbetween texts and their own worlds.Of course, reading self-selected texts alsoincreases reading fluency, or the ability toread quickly and accurately (Alvermann, etal., 2000; Moje et al., 2000).ComprehensionMany students leave elementary school ableto decode language without fully understandingwhat it says. Reform in adolescent literacyinstruction must include attention to students’ability to comprehend what they read. Fortunately,research-based strategies are available tosupport such learning.• Vocabulary Development: Reading, writing,speaking, and listening can all contribute tovocabulary development. Since each disciplinehas its own vocabulary, students needboth direct and indirect instruction to activelylearn new words (Dole, Sloan, and Trathern,1995.)• Discussion-based Approaches: Makingmeaning from texts is crucial to reading comprehension,and focused discussions aboutacademic texts can help students learn to readbetter at the same time that they learn moreabout a specific field. (Applebee et al., 2003).Strategies like reciprocal teaching, questiongenerating, and summarizing can foster discussions.Critical ThinkingEffective literacy education leads students tothink deeply about texts and use them to generateideas and knowledge. Students can be taughtto think about their own thinking, to understandhow texts are organized, to consider relationshipsbetween texts, and to comprehend complexities.• Self-monitoring: Focused instruction canteach students how to consider their ownunderstandings of a text and learn how to proceedwhen their understanding fails (Bereiterand Bird, 1985).• Interpretation and Analysis: A successfulprogram of literacy education enables studentsto dissect, deconstruct, and re-constructtexts as they engage in meaning making(Newmann, King, & Rigdon, 1997).The National Council of Teachers of English

7• Multi-disciplinary: Critical thinking takesslightly different form in each discipline, andeffective instruction for adolescent literacyhelps students develop capacities for criticalthinking in each discipline (Greenleaf et al.,2001).• Technology: Many adolescents are drawnto technology, and incorporating technologyinto instruction can increase motivation at thesame time that it enhances adolescent literacyby fostering student engagement (Merchant,2001).AssessmentAssessment is often seen as external to instruction,but it is an essential part of teaching. Bothteachers and students benefit from multipleforms of evaluation. While high-stakes testsrarely provide feedback that has instructionalvalue, other forms of assessment can fosterliteracy development in adolescents.• Ongoing Formative Assessment: Assessmentthat provides regular feedback about studentlearning has benefits for students and teachers.It can enhance motivation as well asachievement among students. Teachers whoreceive daily or weekly information aboutstudent development can intervene effectively(Biancarosa and Snow, 2004).• Informal Assessment: Assessment need notbe an onerous task for teachers since there aremany ways to evaluate student achievementinformally. Brief responses to a student journal,students’ written summaries of learning atthe end of class, or a student-teacher conferenceare examples of informal assessment thatdoes not require a grade but provides formativeevaluation of student achievement.• Formal Assessment: The test at the end ofa unit or the paper written in response to amulti-week assignment are examples of formalassessment that is usually graded and canbe described as summative rather than formative.When prepared and graded by a teacheras part of ongoing instruction, formal assessmentcan provide useful insights into studentlearning (Darling-Hammond et al., 1995).Meeting the ChallengeReform designed to improve adolescent literacythrough increased motivation, comprehension,critical thinking, and classroom-based assessmentmust contribute to measurable gains in studentachievement. Instruction that foregroundsinstructional experiences like these will requiresubstantial reform, both in teaching practicesand in the school infrastructures in which theyare enacted. Teachers possess the greatest capacityto positively affect student achievement,and a growing body of research shows that theprofessional development of teachers holds thegreatest potential to improve adolescent literacyachievement. In fact, research indicates thatfor every $500 directed toward various schoolimprovement initiatives, those funds directedtoward professional development resulted in thegreatest student gains on standardized achievementtests (Greenwald et al., 1996).Research indicates thatfor every $500 directedtoward various schoolimprovement initiatives,those funds directedtoward professionaldevelopment resultedin the greatest studentgains on standardizedachievement tests.The James R. Squire Office for Policy Research

8SECTION IIPROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: THE ROUTE TO REFORMThe Importance of TeacherQualityFormer U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paigerecognized the value of well-prepared teachers:“We know that being a highly qualifiedteacher matters because the academic achievementlevels of students who are taught by goodteachers increase at greater rates than the levelsof those who are taught by other teachers” (U.S.Department of Education 2003). In makingsuch claims, Paige drew upon research thatdocuments how well-prepared teachers raisethe achievement of all students, not just thosewho were already doing well (Babu and Medro,2003; Sanders and Rivers, 1996).The term “highly-qualified teacher,” used byPaige and many others, entered the language ofeducation with the No Child Left Behind Actof 2001. According to NCLB, highly-qualifiedteachers have a BA degree, full state certification,and knowledge of the subject(s) they teach.Teachers can demonstrate subject-matter knowledgewith a major—or credits equivalent to amajor—in the subject they teach, a passing gradein a state test, or a graduate degree.For teachers in middle and high schools, however,literacy is not, for the most part, an area ofexpertise. Those who can be described as highlyqualified in math, social studies, English, orscience rarely have any significant training in literacyinstruction. Traditionally teacher preparationprograms include little (if any) course workin literacy, so it is possible for teachers to beidentified as highly-qualified even though theywere not prepared to address the challenges ofadolescent literacy. Many content-area teachersdescribe themselves as not prepared to teach lit-eracy within their content area (Phillips, 2002).Ironically, many secondary school teachers resistthe work of reading specialists in their schools(Darwin, 2002).Many content-areateachers describethemselves as notprepared to teachliteracy within theircontent area.Centrality of ProfessionalDevelopmentBecause middle and high school teachers whoare highly qualified in some ways can lack fundamentalknowledge about literacy development,professional development must be at the centerof any reform effort that seeks broad improvementin adolescent literacy. Without additionaltraining, teachers at the secondary level remainlargely unable to take up the task of enhancingadolescent literacy. Given the demonstrated impactof professional development upon studentachievement, investing in professional developmentis both the most cost-effective and systematicway to address the challenges of adolescentliteracy at the national level (Greenwald et al.,1996).The quality of professional development is, ofcourse, a key concern. All professional developmentis not created equal, and much of whatis described as professional development is notsustained or in-depth enough to foster significantThe National Council of Teachers of English

9and lasting teacher learning. Because researchshows that student achievement depends uponteachers learning from professional development,it is important for high quality professionaldevelopment in adolescent literacy to bethe standard (Pang and Kamil, 2003).High Quality ProfessionalDevelopmentResearch on professional development hasfocused on both teacher learning and studentlearning. Like all learning, teacher learningoccurs over time, and the diagram below showshow effective professional development movesteachers, over time, from little or no knowledgeto expertise.Multiple Stages of ProfessionalDevelopment LearningAdapted from Robert B. Cooter’s capacity-building model(Cooter, 2004).Unfortunately much professional developmentis concentrated at the level of “firstexposure” and comes in the form of a singleworkshop or presentation on a given teachingstrategy. “Deep learning,” by contrast, involvesextended engagement with new ideas and strategies,such as reading and discussing a text orparticipating in a demonstration. At the “firstexposure” stage, teachers can be described ashaving knowledge about a given approach butlimited capacity to implement it. By contrast,when teachers are able to practice approacheswith support from a mentor or coach who canoffer suggestions and encouragement, they areable to implement newly-acquired strategieseffectively. After teachers have had opportunitiesfor supported practice, they then engage inrefined and expanded learning, which is characterizedby a comfortable incorporation of newapproaches into regular classroom practices.Professional development reaches its ultimatestage when teachers feel comfortable supportingothers in learning a new approach.Time is not, of course, the only importantfeature of professional development. The remainderof this section will discuss other aspectsof all effective professional development. Thenext section will consider features specific toprofessional development focused on adolescentliteracy.Involvement and Commitment of allStakeholdersTeachers and staff who will take part in orwho are affected by a program of professionaldevelopment should be part of the planningprocess, particularly as fundamental decisionsare being made. Teacher knowledge aboutstudents can help make needs clear—in a needsassessment, for instance—and faculties who areinvolved in planning professional developmentare much more likely to “buy into” the contentof the ensuing program. Rather than bringingan outside expert to deliver strategies that willThe James R. Squire Office for Policy Research

10then be implemented by individual teachersin the privacy of their own classrooms, teachersand administrators should work together todetermine needs, decide on a course of action,and implement development plans (Gusky andHuberman, 1995).Connection with Local InstructionTo have significant impact, professional developmentshould link to other parts of the instructionalinfrastructure in a given school. Eachschool has a unique context, and the best professionaldevelopment takes account of the multiplefactors that contribute to student learning in thatcontext. These include the community of whichthe school is a part, student standards, curricularframeworks, textbooks, instructional programs,and assessments. Attention to the local contextalso includes understanding and acknowledgingthe knowledge and experience teachers bring toprofessional development. When teachers canmake connections between mandated standardsor features of the existing curriculum and ideasforwarded in professional development, they aremuch more likely to incorporate new approachesinto their pedagogical repertoires. Professionaldevelopment can also help teachers understandand work with standards and curricular frameworksso that they implement them more substantiallyin the classroom (Dutro et al., 2002).Creation of a Professional CommunityIsolation is a difficulty faced by many teachers,and it frequently leads individuals to leave theprofession (Hanushek et al., 2001). Conversely,teachers who belong to a study group, a learningcommunity, or some other collaborative enterpriseare most likely to remain in the professionas highly successful instructors. Effective professionaldevelopment fosters collegial relationships,creating professional communities whereteachers share knowledge and treat each otherwith respect. Within such communities teacherinquiry and reflection can flourish, and researchshows that teachers who engage in collaborativeprofessional development feel confident andwell prepared to meet the demands of teaching(Holloway, 2003). Furthermore, teachers whoreflect on their own work engender high-achievingstudents (Darling-Hammond & McLaughlin,1995).EvaluationEvaluation should be part of the plan for all professionaldevelopment. Without careful considerationof its effects, professional developmentcannot improve. Guskey (2000) suggests thatfive levels of evaluation be included in order toget a full portrait of the strengths and weaknessesof a given program of professional development.The five are:• participants’ reactions• participants’ learning• organization support and change• participants’ use of new knowledge and skills• student learning outcomesCollecting and analyzing data regarding eachof these areas is demanding, but without suchinformation it is impossible to determine the effectivenessof professional development.Effective ProfessionalDevelopment Programs• Continue beyond a single session orstrategy• Require the commitment of all stakeholders• Connect with local instruction• Create a professional community• Include evaluation• Result in student achievementThe National Council of Teachers of English

11Professional Development andStudent AchievementStudent development and achievement is theultimate measure of success, and research showsthat professional development improves studentperformance. Quality of teacher influencesstudent achievement more than factors like classsize and classroom peers, and effective teachersproduce better achievement regardless of whichcurriculum materials or pedagogical approachesare used (Darling-Hammond & Youngs, 2002).Not surprisingly, when professional developmentis tailored to classroom practice or content, ithas the greatest impact on student achievement(Garet et al. 2001; Kelleher 2003). In short, investmentin professional development pays largedividends in student achievement.A growing body of research documents theconnection between systematic and sustainedprofessional development and improved studentachievement. Greenwald et al. (1996) foundthat moderate increases in professional developmentcould lead to significant increases instudent achievement. Estrada (2005) found thatan extended program of professional developmentimproved student achievement. She alsoobserved that this can result when “all stakeholders,including teachers, researchers, andprofessional developers [are] willing to face thefacts of student performance levels, take responsibility,and take the risks inherent in workingtoward improvement” (355). Langer (2000)studied the links between teachers’ professionaldevelopment and student achievement over fiveyears and found that students whose teachersparticipated in professional development improvedsignificantly. She writes, “The teachersInvestment inprofessional developmentpays large dividends instudent achievement.in schools that are beating the odds are in touchwith their students, their profession, their colleagues,and society at large . . . The knowledgeand experiences gained in their wide professionalarena affect the classroom context, theirstudents’ learning and achievement” (434).The James R. Squire Office for Policy Research

12SECTION IIIPROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TO IMPROVEADOLESCENT LITERACYThe features of professional development discussedin Part II are important for professionaldevelopment focused on adolescent literacy.Extended time for teachers to move from littleor no knowledge to being able to mentor othersin specific approaches; the involvementof all stakeholders; connection with the localinfrastructure; and the creation of a professionalcommunity—all of these contribute to effectiveprofessional development. In addition, somefeatures of professional development applyspecifically to those concerned with adolescentliteracy: professional communities in secondaryschools, interdisciplinary collaboration, andliteracy coaching.Professional Development toImprove Adolescent Literacy• Builds professional community• Encourages interdisciplinary collaboration• Relies on qualified literacy coaches forguidanceProfessional Communities inSecondary SchoolsCollaboration among teachers is always importantto student learning because it enables studentsto see connections across the curriculum.Such collaboration is especially important forProfessionalcommunities amongteachers are mostcommon in elementaryschools and least commonin secondary schools.fostering achievement in literacy among adolescentsbecause literacy enables and requireslearning across the curriculum. Unfortunately,as research shows, professional communitiesamong teachers are most common in elementaryschools and least common in secondary schools(Louis & Marks, 1996). Features such as sharedvalues, focus on student learning, deprivatizedpractice, and reflective dialogue are much lesscommon among middle and high school teachersthan among their peers in elementary schools.Reform aimed at improving the literacyachievement of adolescents will need to encourageprofessional development that helps teacherscreate professional communities. The implementationof new approaches offered by professionaldevelopment requires the existence of astrong professional community that creates asafe environment for teachers to experiment withinnovation (Bryk & Schneider, 2003). Professionaldevelopment can help create professionalThe National Council of Teachers of English

13communities in schools. As the research ofLouis & Marks (1996) shows, characteristics ofprofessional communities include:• Shared values• Focus on student learning• Collaboration• Deprivatized practice• Reflective dialogueInterdisciplinary CollaborationAdolescent literacy is necessarily interdisciplinarybecause middle and high school studentsmust read and write in such fields as science,mathematics, and social sciences as well asEnglish. This means that they need to learnthe forms, purposes, and other textual demandsspecific to multiple disciplines (Kucer, 2005).Adolescent literacyis necessarilyinterdisciplinary.Students who have opportunities to read andwrite many types of texts become fluent, broadentheir vocabularies, and expand their abilitiesas readers and writers. In particular, studentswho participate in discussions that develop theirunderstanding of discipline-specific contentlearn to read and write efficiently and effectively(Applebee et al., 2003). They develop the abilityto recognize how texts are organized in differentdisciplines and begin to consider the varioussocial, political, and historical contexts andpurposes that surround all texts.Whether they are in a science or Englishclass, adolescents need to understand literacy asan array of related and complex mental and socialactivities rather than a set of discrete skills.This, in turn, will lead them to competenceand engagement as learners (Allington, 2001;Alvermann & Moore, 1991). When studentsin middle and high school experience effectiveliteracy instruction, they develop the ability tothink critically about their own reading and writingpractices. They also become able to explainthe meaning of a text and to recognize whenthey do not understand, which is a first step inhelping them move to understanding. Willingnessto monitor their own literacy learning is oneindication of student engagement, and researchshows a high correlation between such engagementand improved literacy learning (Taylor etal., 2003).Research shows that professional developmentassociated with writing across the curriculumleads to more effective interdisciplinary collaborationamong teacher learners (WinchesterSchool District, 1987). When teachers from severaldisciplines work together in the context ofprofessional development, they are much morelikely to develop working relationships. Furthermore,when teacher learning extends acrossdisciplines it also enhances student achievement(Arbaugh, 2003; Burbank & Kauchak, 2003).Multi-modal literacy, literacy practices thatcan be used in the context of multiple sites/texts/media, supports and is supported by interdisciplinarity.Multimodal texts are inherentlyinterdisciplinary because creation of them drawsupon several fields of inquiry. Similarly, themultidisciplinary nature of literacy leads naturallyto multi-modal forms that combine visualand verbal texts in various ways.The James R. Squire Office for Policy Research

14The most promisingform of professionaldevelopment overallappears to be literacycoaching.Literacy CoachingThe most promising form of professional developmentoverall appears to be literacy coaching(Kamil, 2003). In this work, literacy specialistsconsult with content teachers to help theminfuse literacy instruction into their teaching.Although qualifications and responsibilities ofliteracy coaches vary from one site to another,most agree that coaches model instruction,observe teachers and make suggestions, leadteacher inquiry groups, and disseminate researchfindings. Qualifications include 1) a strongfoundation in literacy, 2) leadership skills, and3) familiarity with adult learning. Unlike readingspecialists who spend most of their time workingwith students, literacy coaches focus on teacherlearning, concerning themselves with increasingthe knowledge and skills of teachers and administrators.Literacy coaches can help teachers:• provide a bridge between adolescents’ rich literatebackgrounds and school literacy activities• work on school-wide teams to teach literacyin each discipline as an essential way of learningin the disciplines• recognize when students are not makingmeaning with text and provide appropriate,strategic assistance to read course content effectively• facilitate student-initiated conversations regardingtexts that are authentic and relevant toreal life experiences• create environments that allow students toengage in critical examinations of texts asthey dissect, deconstruct, and reconstruct inan effort to engage in meaning making andcomprehension processes.Together with the International ReadingAssociation (IRA) and other professional associations,NCTE has developed standards forwhat literacy coaches should know and be ableto do to help teachers. These standards provideguidance for schools seeking to include literacycoaching in their professional developmentplans. Briefly, the standards (see list on page 15)include general ones directed toward all coachesand content-area-specific ones grounded in thedisciplines.NCTE is addressing this challenge by establishing,in cooperation with the InternationalReading Association, the Literacy CoachingClearinghouse. The Clearinghouse will provideresearch-based information and service to literacycoaches and educational leaders in schoolsacross the nation.In addition, the Clearinghouse will leadfurther research on literacy coaching in order toanswer questions such as these:• In what domain—student learning, teacherlearning, or school climate—is the impact ofliteracy coaches greatest?• How can schools collect their own data aboutthe effects of literacy coaching on studentachievement?• How can we compare literacy coaches acrosscontexts?• What are the characteristics of highly effectivecoaches?Continued on page 16The National Council of Teachers of English

15STANDARDS FOR LITERACY COACHES *1) Skillful CollaboratorsWorking with the school’s literacy team, literacy coaches determine the school’sstrengths (and need for improvement) in the area of literacy in order to improvestudents’ reading, writing, and communication skills and content area achievement.2) Skillful Job-Embedded CoachesLiteracy coaches work with teachers individually, in collaborative teams, an/orwith departments, providing practical support on a full range of reading, writing,and communication strategies3) Skillful Instructional StrategistsLiteracy coaches lead faculty in the selection and use of a range of assessmenttools as a means to make sound decisions about student literacy needs as related tothe curriculum and to instruction.4) Content area literacy coaches are accomplished middle and high school teacherswho are skilled in developing and implementing instructional strategies to improveacademic literacy in English language arts.5) In English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies literacycoaches are familiar with the content area and know how reading and writingprocesses intersect with the given discipline.* For a full description of each standard, seehttp://www.ncte.org/library/files/About_NCTE/Education_Issues/coaching_standards.pdfThe James R. Squire Office for Policy Research

16• What is the relationship between coaches’familiarity with content area standards and effectiveintegration of literacy instruction intocontent area lessons?• How does a coach’s knowledge in a givencontent area affect the teacher’s sense of expertise?• Which qualities of literacy coaches correlatemost highly with enhanced student achievementin literacy?• What reading comprehension strategies arebest received by teachers?• Which comprehension strategies and practicesare most effective for students?• What is the optimum context for teacher-literacycoach planning and evaluation of instruction?• How do coach-led teams allocate literacy andcontent area instruction?• What differences between content-area teachers’practices can be attributed to participationin coach-led teacher meetings?Answering questions like these can be describedas a practice-embedded research (Donovan,Wigdor, and Snow, 2003). Such researchstarts with the practice as it exists and, buildingon successful teacher practices already in place,addresses practitioner questions while also accumulatingdata across sites. The findings willIt will take approximatelyten thousand literacycoaches to help the ninemillion fourth- throughtwelfth-graders whostruggle with reading(Sturtevant, 2003).inform the training and evaluation of literacycoaches. Ultimately, of course, the Clearinghousewill be an instrument of reform focusedon improving student achievement by enhancingthe development of under-literate adolescents.CONCLUSIONReform in adolescent literacy requires a recognitionof the seriousness of the problem as wellas a reconceptualization of the role of secondaryschool teachers in all fields, including theintroduction of new approaches to teaching,new forms of collaboration, and systematicassessment of results. Professional developmentpromises to be the most productive area onwhich to focus reform efforts because researchshows that professional development yields thegreatest improvement in student achievement.The most effective form of professionaldevelopment is offered by literacy coaches, andthe need is urgent. It will take approximately tenthousand literacy coaches to help the nine millionfourth- through twelfth-graders who struggle withreading (Sturtevant, 2003). Meeting this challengewill require concerted and collaborativeefforts of a number of groups, including teachers,administrators, policy makers, higher education,and professional associations like the NationalCouncil of Teachers of English.The National Council of Teachers of English

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19Pang, E., and Kamil, M. (March 2003). Updatesand extensions to the teacher educationresearch database. Presented to the AmericanEducational Research Association, Chicago,IL.Phillips, M.P. (2002). Secondary teacher perceptionsrelating to Alabama Reading Initiativetraining and implementation. (Doctoraldissertation, University of Alabama & Universityof Alabama in Birmingham, Birmingham,Alabama). Rivers, 1999.Sanders, W., and Rivers, J. (1996). Cumulativeand residual effects of teachers on futureacademic achievement. Knoxville, Tenn.:University of Tennessee Value-Added Researchand Assessment Center.Sturtevant, E. G. (2003). The literacy coach:A key to improving teaching and learning insecondary schools. Alliance for ExcellentEducation, Washington, DC.Tylor, B., Pearson, P. D. Peterson, D. S., Rodriquez,M. C. (2003). Reading growth inhigh-poverty classrooms: The influence ofteacher practices that encourage cognitiveengagement in literacy learning. ElementarySchool Journal 104(1), 3–28.U.S. Department of Education (2004). TheSecretary’s third annual report on teacherquality. Washington, DC: Westat.Winchester School District, MA (1987). Winchesterhigh school excellence in educationgrant: Reading and writing across the curriculum.Final report. Washington: Office ofEducational Research and Improvement.©2006 by the National Council of Teachers of English.All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, includingphotocopy, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the copyright holder. Additional copies of this policy briefmay be purchased from the National Council of Teachers of English at 1-877-369-6283. A full-text PDF of this document may be downloaded freefor personal, non-commercial use through the Association’s Web site: www.ncte.org (requires Adobe’s Acrobat Reader).The James R. Squire Office for Policy Research

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