Creating a Culture of Literacy

Across the nation, there is increasing awareness of the major deficit in the literacy skills of the country of middle level and high school students. Research shows that sub-proficient literacy skills leads to sub-par grades and low achievement levels, which can then ultimately lead to middle level and high school dropouts.

To fully address the struggling reader problem, literacy programs should be available from pre-K through grade 12 and means that middle level and high schools need to put more emphasis on reading skills. Even with the best instruction early on, differences magnify as students develop from year to year many students need to be supported as they transition from “learning to read” to “reading to learn and are exposed to unfamiliar vocabulary, new reading and writing styles, and asked to apply problem-solving strategies.

To assist in addressing this important issue, NASSP offers a field guide for school leaders on adolescent literacy. Creating a Culture of Literacy: A Guide for Middle and High School Principals discusses the importance of implementing literacy strategies across the curriculum and gives practical steps and examples of ways to confront the deficit in literacy skills in secondary schools.

The book shares several key elements that must be in place to fully implement an adolescent literacy program: (a) committed and supportive school leaders, (b) balanced formal and informal assessments that guide the learning of students and teachers, (c) ongoing, job-embedded, research-based professional development, (d) highly effective teachers in every content area that model and provide explicit instruction to improve comprehension, and (e) strategic and accelerated intervention.

Tools for Creating a Culture of Literacy

• Appendix 1: Annotated Bibliography of Literacy Resources
• Appendix 2: Literacy Capacity Survey Edit Link
• Appendix 3: Literacy Team Planning Guide Edit
• Appendix 4: Literacy Improvement Action Plan Template
• Appendix 5: Assessments for Middle and High School Students
• Appendix 6: Five-Year Data Collecting Template
• Appendix 7: Progress Monitoring Template
• Appendix 8: Disaggregated Data Template Edit Link Appendix 2 is at the bottom of the current “Creating a Culture of Literacy” page.