Effective Support of Adolescent Literacy at the High School Level is Critical

Defining the Issue

At the middle school and high school levels, reading comprehension skills must become increasingly sophisticated to address the demands posed by more challenging academic expectations. "Beyond the primary grades, students need to grapple with texts that are expository, dense, and full of new, more difficult vocabulary, especially in math, science, and social studies" (Allen, 2000). The ability to transact meaning with such text is often not directly taught. If these skills are not fluent due to lack of practice, and not continually scaffolded to improve with time, all but the most advanced readers and writers are placed at a disadvantage.

Research in this important area suggests the direction which improvement efforts must take. We know some of the ways to reach reluctant readers and writers. We know a variety of teaching and learning strategies that have been shown to be effective in assisting adolescent learners to develop their capacity as readers and writers. We know that enhancing literacy skills will improve learning in the content areas. Despite this knowledge, there is limited understanding of how to bring what have been identified as effective instructional literacy strategies to life in the secondary content area classroom, in ways that will make a positive difference for students (NRP Report, 2000).

Teaching reading comprehension strategies to students at all grade levels is complex. An additional challenge at the middle and high school levels is that secondary teachers maintain the assumption that elementary teachers teach reading while their job is to focus on the content. Secondary teachers also feel that they lack the expertise to teach reading, with the result that they "enable" kids not to read (Allen, 2000; Cziko, 1998). Thus, instead of engaging with key support and practice opportunities needed to strengthen skills, students are actually reading and writing less.

The literacy demands that adolescents will face as 21st century workers and citizens far exceed what has been required in the past (Moore, Bean, Birdyshaw & Rycik, 1999). New types of information systems, new modes of communication, presentation and publication, and wide access to technologies that support new ways of managing, analyzing, developing, and monitoring are here now. The infusion of technology into our communication systems worldwide brings with it the need to better understand how technology changes and extends literacy demands (Luke & Elkins, 1998; Rycik & Irvin, 2001). At the secondary level, many students are familiar with some of these capabilities, while others are not. Many teachers are not technologically literate, many schools still have limited or unreliable technological capacity, and most educational systems are not adequately preparing students to develop the types and levels of literacy necessary to truly exploit technology-enhanced teaching and learning.

The standards movement asserts that all students should understand content at deeper, more complex levels than have been advocated previously for any but the most advanced students. "Learning for understanding" has been given considerable attention as a critical path to achieving at high levels (Bransford et al., 1999; Brown & Campione, 1996; Newmann, Secada & Wehlange, 1995; Wiggins, 1989; Wiggins & McTighe, 1998; Blythe, 1998; Perkins, 1992; Wiske, 1998, as cited in Graves, 1999). For students to construct meaning and derive usefulness from what they "learn," they must be able to retain important information, understand topics and concepts deeply, and actively apply knowledge (Perkins, 1992). Reading and writing play a crucial role in the ability to "learn for understanding" (Graves, 1999; Graves, 2000). What happens, as is often the case, when literacy skills are too weak to support this kind of learning?

Support for a Balanced Literacy Approach at the Secondary Level

Research is clear that implementation of a balanced literacy approach to early reading and writing instruction supports diverse learners to read and write (e.g., Alabama Reading Initiative, 1998; Bergeson, Ciardi & Miller, 1998). What is needed is an understanding of what a parallel, "balanced literacy" model should include in order to be equally effective in supporting adolescent literacy.

To assist those attempting to improve adolescent literacy at both the classroom and the school-wide level, we examined the literature from several relevant fields, including cognitive psychology, English Language Arts instruction and assessment, linguistics, motivation theory, English as a Second Language, education, and discourse analysis. What we found seems to suggest that effective support results from a threefold approach: 1) careful attention to the social and motivational issues attendant to adolescent learners, 2) explicit teaching and use of cognitive strategies, and 3) integration of literacy instruction with content area learning, in ways that support teaching and learning in that discipline. A balanced literacy approach to supporting content area reading and writing to learn would need to incorporate all three.

Research strongly suggests that school and classroom cultures play large roles in terms of supporting or undermining adolescents to develop positive literacy identities (e.g., McCombs & Barton, 1998). Attention to how to meet the social and emotional needs of adolescents in learning situations is correlated with how motivated students are to further develop their literacy skills and engage in reading and writing. Literacy clearly has social and cultural attributes. Those who have experienced repeated failure at reading are often unwilling to participate as readers or writers. School and classroom cultures that successfully promote the development of adolescent literacy skills are characterized by connections, interaction, and responsiveness, leading to student engagement and reflection (Collins, 1997; Davidson & Koppenhauer, 1991; Krogness, 1995; Moore, et al., 2000; Schunk & Zimmerman, 1997; Wilhelm, 1995).

A growing body of research about the differences in the metacognitive skills of good vs. poor readers (e.g., Schoenbach et al, 1999; Wilhelm, 1995; Wisconsin Department of Education, 1988) is providing a foundation for identifying promising reading comprehension strategies for adolescent learners (e.g., Rosenshine & Meister, 1994). Adolescent students "must learn to think about the complexities of the reading process and then actively apply appropriate strategies" (Allen, 2000). They must, therefore, learn the literacy strategies, be given time to practice and apply them to a variety of contexts, and subsequently use them for learning in the content areas. The research suggests a menu of best practices that together comprise good instruction to further develop adolescent literacy.

Research clearly supports the use of a variety of comprehension strategies to enhance learning in the content areas (Haller et. al., 1988; NRP Report, 2000). However, the literacy demands of different content areas, while sharing some similarities, also vary substantially (Grossman & Stodolsky, 1995). "Reading is a different task when we read literature, science texts, historical analyses, newspapers, tax forms. This is why teaching students how to read the texts of academic disciplines is a key part of teaching them these disciplines" (Strategic Literacy Initiative, 1999). Effective content-based vocabulary instruction, understanding of text structures, and discourse analysis all play key roles in assisting students to maximize content area reading and writing to learn.

Supporting Schoolwide Literacy Initiatives at the Secondary Level

There is increasing evidence that a schoolwide approach results in enhanced literacy skills for K-3 learners. Studies suggest that successful secondary initiatives would require a similar schoolwide focus. "Although research-based reading strategies may be applied in schools on a piecemeal basis, some researchers believe that success in solving older students' comprehension problems depends on their inclusion in a strategic framework that will move students to a deeper understanding of the information they read" (Allen, 2000). Experience with high school educational reform models (e.g., Coalition for Effective Schools; Breaking Ranks; Career Academies) suggests that implementing and sustaining change in secondary schools requires a host of organizational and leadership structures specific to the ongoing initiative.

At the elementary level, we have a growing knowledge base about the kinds of teaching and learning, types of leadership, resources, school and district support, and professional development options which are successful in supporting a school-wide, balanced literacy approach. The current challenge is to develop and apply knowledge of how to design, implement, and sustain such parallel efforts related to literacy at the middle and high school level.

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