Adolescent Literacy: Ensuring that No Child is Left Behind (cont.)
IMPROVING LITERACY INSTRUCTION IN HIGH SCHOOL
The demands placed on students in today's high schools are significant. For those students who lack basic literacy skills, these demands may be insurmountable. High school students are expected to read and analyze large amounts of printed information, express themselves in writing, and solve multiple-step problems with limited assistance from teachers. And, in light of the standards-based reform movement, successfully pass state assessment exams. These demands steadily increase and become more complex as students move from the 9th to the 12th grade. Hence, given that reading performance plateaus during their high school years (see Table 1), it is clear that the "performance gap" between these students' abilities and what they are expected to do widens. For some students, the gap is so big and the sense of hopelessness so great, they make the choice to drop out of school altogether.
Adolescents who lack basic literacy skills need intensive, focused, sustained instruction to help them catch up with their peers. But high schools are generally not structured nor have teachers been prepared to provide this kind of instruction. For example:
- High school English teachers, along with other teachers for the most part, are not trained to provide basic literacy instruction, nor do they see this as their role. They often share the conventional view that students should have been taught how to read in the earlier grades.
- High schools do not lend themselves to well-coordinated instruction across subject areas. This reality makes it difficult for teachers to provide intense, sustained, and focused instruction across the school day.
- There has not been broad-scale dissemination and preparation of teachers to use existing instructional practices that are scientifically based.
- Traditionally, the role of high school teachers has been to teach subject matter content (e.g., history, science, etc.). Preparing students to pass subject matter portions of state examinations reinforce this role. Hence, many teachers take the position that basic literacy instruction for struggling adolescents is a very complex undertaking for which they have not been prepared.
- Adolescents with literacy problems often lack the motivation, commitment, or belief that more instruction will make a difference in their performance. Because their schooling history has often eroded their self-confidence, they typically are reluctant to put forth the effort necessary turn things around.
To bring about dramatic changes in the state of adolescent literacy in this country, significant changes will be required in (a) how high school teachers and administrators see their role in teaching literacy, and (b) how basic literacy skills are taught as a part of the high school curriculum. Because of the broad array of student needs and the complexity of the problems presented by adolescents with poor literacy skills, no single program or approach can meet the needs of all. Thus, the best high school literacy programs are ones that consider both the unique needs of students with literacy problems and the realities of secondary schools.
Some students will need more individualized, explicit, intensive instruction of basic reading skills, while other students will need opportunities to practice fluency and comprehension skills within the context of their regular classes. Others might need extended day tutoring in before and after school achievement centers. In short, it is important to meet students where they are in their literacy development (Hock, Schumaker, & Deshler, 1999). Ehren and Lenz (2002) have developed The Content Literacy Continuum (CLC) at the University of Kansas Center for Research in Learning. The CLC describes five levels of literacy support that should be in place in every secondary school.
The five different levels in this continuum emphasize how important it is to infuse literacy instruction throughout the high school curriculum and that a host of high school teachers with different types of expertise will be required to successfully address the broad array of needs presented by adolescents. Additionally, since the problems of adolescents with literacy problems are so significant, intervention outside of the school day is warranted. Hence, high schools should consider the important role that before and after school tutoring programs to support services provided across the Content Literacy Continuum. The key outcome associated with the Content Literacy Continuum is that students will attain appropriate achievement standards on state assessment tests and demonstrate real-world content literacy.
- Level 1: Ensuring mastery of critical content in all subject area classes. Adolescents with poor literacy skills
typically have great difficulty understanding most of the curriculum taught by their subject matter teachers during
class - thus, they don't acquire the core knowledge expected of all high school students. It is important that all
subject matter teachers use teaching aids and devices that will help students better understand and remember the content
they are teaching. The use of such tools as graphic organizers, prompted outlines, structured reviews, guided discussions
and other instructional tactics that will modify and enhance the curriculum content in ways that promote its understanding
and mastery have been shown to greatly enhance student performance. These modifications represent a teacher's first
response to meeting the needs of students who are struggling within content instruction. Although Level 1 interventions
are designed to help those students with limited levels of literacy, they also must be designed such that their use
benefits all of the students in an academically diverse class.
An example of this is the use of a "unit organizer" to help students understand potentially confusing and complex subject matter being covered in a unit of instruction. This organizer displays the main topics and the relationship of these topics to each other and other units being studied in the course. By carefully configuring the unit organizer to display core concepts and important vocabulary and then having students a regularly use this organizer for studying material from the unit, the outcomes of students with literacy problems on unit tests improve considerably. - Level 2: Weaving learning strategies within rigorous general education classes. When Level 1 interventions are
insufficient to impact the performance of students with literacy problems in a classroom, teachers must consider
instructional methods at the next point on the intervention continuum, Level 2. Here teachers incorporate instruction
on selected learning strategies into their classes. Students with literacy problems often lack the necessary learning
strategies that help them understand and remember the information being taught (e.g., how to ask questions of themselves
to check their understanding of what is being taught or how to use memory strategies to remember critical information
for a test, etc.). On an ongoing basis, while teaching subject matter material, teachers look for opportunities to
point out to students particular strategies that would help them learn the information being taught. It is not enough,
however, for teachers to merely tell students about a strategy that would be helpful for them to use, it is important
that they explain how to use the strategy, model its use, and then require students to use the strategy in relation to
their content assignments. In short, the purpose of embedded strategy instruction is to teach the students "how to
learn" the subject matter material. Teachers can incorporate into their subject matter classes strategies for acquiring,
remembering, and expressing course information. By teaching students strategies that are directly relevant to the demands
of their course, they are shifting the instructional emphasis, in part, from just learning course content to acquiring
the underlying processes to enable them to independently understand and remember the content.
An example of how a general education teacher might incorporate learning strategy instruction into ongoing class activities is as follows. At the beginning of an academic year, a history teacher might explain to the class that being able to read and paraphrase written historical information is important because paraphrasing is required to write reports, answer questions, and discuss information in class. The teacher would then share the specific steps involved in paraphrasing content reading materials and model how to actually paraphrase historical information to complete different types of learning tasks. Class activities and assignments would, in turn, be structured to require students to paraphrase text and use the paraphrased information. The teacher would expect students to use the newly learned strategy in a host of naturally occurring situations within the course and would provide feedback on student work. - Level 3: Supporting mastery of learning strategies for targeted students. Some students who lack literacy skills
have great difficulty mastering learning strategy within the classroom as presented in Level 2. The instructional
conditions are not conducive to their learning (that is, the large numbers of students, little time for individual
feedback, limited opportunity to ask questions for clarification, etc.), Level 3 Interventions may be necessary. In
these interventions, students with literacy problems receive specialized, intensive instruction from someone other
than the subject matter teacher (e.g., a special education teacher, a study- skills teacher, a resource room teacher).
Continuing with the example cited above for the Level 2 Interventions, if the history teacher notices that some student(s) in the class are struggling with mastering paraphrasing, support personnel (e.g., the special education teacher) would be asked to provide much more explicit, intensive, and systematic instruction in the strategy. An explicit instructional sequence would be followed that ensures student understanding of each step of the strategy, opportunities to practice the strategy in materials that are at the appropriate instructional reading levels, provision of elaborated feedback after each practice attempt, and teaching students to generalize the strategy to a broad array of learning tasks and materials. Such intensive instruction would be provided until the student gains the necessary confidence and masters the strategy at a level of fluency. At such time, the students would apply the newly mastered strategy to assignments in the general education classroom. - Level 4: Developing intensive instructional options for students who lack foundational skills. In nearly every high
school there is a small group of students who cannot respond adequately to the intensive strategy instruction provided in
Level 3 interventions. For these students, teachers need to consider interventions at Levels 4 and 5 on the continuum.
While the numbers of students who require interventions at these levels are relatively small in most school systems,
educators need to be aware that these students exist and require a type of instruction that is often not available to
them. These are students who have severe learning disabilities, who have specific underlying language disorders in
linguistic, metalinguistic, and metacognitive areas, who are English-as-a-second-language learners, or who have had
prolonged histories of moving from one school to another. As a result, they may lack many of the foundational skills
required for advanced literacy.
Students receiving Level 4 Interventions learn content literacy skills and strategies through specialized, direct, and intensive instruction in listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. Reading specialists and special education teachers work together at this level to develop intensive and coordinated instructional experiences designed to address severe literacy deficits. For example, they may implement an intensive reading program for those students who are reading at the first- through third-grade levels. These professionals may also assist content teachers in making appropriate modifications in content instruction to accommodate severe literacy deficits. - Level 5: Developing intensive clinical options for language intervention. In Level 5 Interventions, students with underlying language disorders learn linguistic, metalinguistic, and metacognitive foundational skills they need to acquire the necessary content skills and strategies. Generally, at this level, speech pathologists deliver one-on-one or small-group curriculum-relevant language therapy in collaboration with other support personnel teaching literacy skills. They also assist content teachers in making appropriate modifications in content instruction to accommodate severe language disorders.
Before & After School Supports: Adolescents with literacy problems often need additional support and opportunities to practice learning newly learned literacy skills. Before and after school tutoring programs can be an effective component to an overall literacy program. When tutoring programs are designed to teach students specific skills in how to learn as well as content knowledge, student outcomes increase. An example of this is the research based Strategic Tutoring program that teaches adolescents core literacy skills needed to complete high school assignments as well as the associated learning strategies that helps students learn independently and stay abreast of class assignments. In order to be effective, before and after school tutoring programs must be well organized and research based with the major goal being the improvement of students overall literacy skills.
In summary, current evidence indicates that the following factors are related to improving outcomes for adolescents with poor literacy skills:
- The infusion of literacy instruction in all aspects of the high school curriculum.
- The involvement of all secondary teachers in making literacy instruction a top priority.
- Strong administrative leadership to ensure optimal conditions for literacy sound literacy instruction.
- The availability of broad continuum of literacy instruction including provisions for intensive, small group or one-on-one literacy instruction for those students most deficient in literacy skills.
- The use of research-based instructional practices.
