A Generation of Literacy Reform

Read 518/CI 510

12/16/13

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The need for literacy education movements have begun to take center stage in

education’s focus in the United States. It is devastating to live in a country where we are each

entitled to an equal education, yet see so many suffer because illiteracy is plaguing our nation.

This has become a national problem that is unquestionably fixable when each child goes to the

same place five days a week. One in four children in America grows up without knowing how to

read. Shockingly, as of 2011, America was the only free-market Organization for Economic

Cooperation and Development country where the current generation was less well educated than

the previous (Huffington Post).

The act of illiteracy is often gernational and sociological. In past generations it has been

associated with one’s places in society, their race, even their sex. But this has changed. Boys and

girls are now allocated equal education and economic opportunity in our country. The first

president to move America into the current age of education that we prosper from, was Lyndon

B. Johnson. He passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act as part of his “War on

Poverty”. To date this has been the most far reaching federal legislation affecting education ever

passed by Congress (Wikipedia). Amongst the many things it highlights, the bill was created to

help shorten the achievement gaps between students by providing each student with an equal

education. This has maintained as the current Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary

Education Act, by president Obama, renewed every five years. Previously this was highlighted as

the No Child Left Behind Act by former President Bush, signed by the Obama Administration of

September 2011, adopted into place originally by President Clinton as the predecessor known as

Goals 2000. Every five years when this act is reauthorized it undergoes a series of installments

based on the current politics of education and one piece of that pie is the federalizing of literacy

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policy development that advises how to make children read better, bringing together the many

minds of politicians, scholars, communities, teachers, and students.

The current Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (No Child

Left Behind Act) was adopted from former President George W. Bush. His push for literacy

development began prior to his presidency, when he was governor of Texas, when one in four

school children were failing on state reading tests. He called for an education overhaul and

mandated an emphasis on accountability and testing throughout the state. The proof was in the

pudding, 91 percent of third grade students passed the state reading test in 2004, compared

with 76 percent in 1994. At the same time former governor and President Clinton also took

literacy education reform very seriously and to a political level as well. During his second

presidential campaign in 1996, and in his State of the Union message of 1997, Clinton advocated

the America Reads Initiative. He pushed national standards and assessment in all subjects and

sought federal assistance for literacy efforts. His was the first attempt to enact federal legislation

aimed specifically at literacy for children (Davenport, D, Jones, J., 2005). President Clinton was

met with resistance by both parties as being too liberal in his actions. His literacy movement

called for state testing requirements by fourth grade and Bush took this a step further, pushing

for third grade. Through the movements of President and Mrs. Bush, who spent over 5 billion

dollars in five years on reading initiatives, we are currently using a newly improved version that

focuses on having all children reading by third grade at state level, which is now known as the

Common Core Standard. Without passing, the student will not advance to the fourth grade,

which is why it was named the No Child Left Behind Act/Reauthorization of the Elementary and

Secondary Education Act. Collectively taken from former president Johnson’s act and combined

with former president Bush and Clinton’s new initiatives.

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The Obama administration has added to the Reauthorization of the Elementary and

Secondary Education Act. Because this is a reform process to switch to new standards and new

testing and practices, they have allowed states some flexibility with the mandates, as well as

offering Race to the Top competitive federally funded grants. The government wants to allow

states and districts greater control over their education process. While this is a whole unit model,

state and district flexibility will allow for greater individual school improvement based on

specific needs (U.S. Department of Education, 2011).

In conjunction with the Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act

the work of the last three Presidents, Obama, Bush and Clinton, have collectively built a stronger

education literacy movement in our country by also supporting the implementation of the

Common Core Standards. The Common Core State Standard Initiative is an education initiative

in the United States born out of the 90’s accountability movement. It details what K-12 students

should know in Language Arts (reading, writing, speaking) and Math at the end of each grade.

All states are members of the Common Core State Standards Initiative, except

Texas, Virginia, Alaska, and Nebraska. The Common Core Standards Initiative is specifically

Literacy and Math based currently with work to advance forward in other areas of education. As

a literacy movement there is specific focus on the progressive development of student reading

and writing comprehension. In Oregon, the Common Core Standards Initiative was adopted

October 29, 2010 and will be fully implemented the 2014-2015 school year (Common Core State

Standards Initiative, 2012).

The history behind the Common Core Standards and the education accountability

movement started almost a generation prior. In 1992, the year before Clinton took office, test

scores across the country were failing and only 14 states had standards in core subjects. In 1990,

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only 38 percent of graduating high schools seniors had taken a core curriculum of four years of

English and three years each of Math, Science and Social Studies. Fewer than 80 percent of the

nation’s highest-poverty schools received Title I funds, which are intended to aid the most

disadvantaged schools. Former President Clinton launched an era of education reform based on

setting high standards for all schools and students and providing the support to meet

them. During Clinton’s eight year presidency reading and math scores on the National

Assessment of Educational Progress increased for 4th, 8th, and 12th graders, including those

students in the highest poverty schools. Math SAT scores were at a 30-year high (The White

House).

According to the White House’s Clinton-Gore Administration, a Record of Progress,

“President Clinton and Vice President Gore enacted Goals 2000 which has helped States

establish standards of excellence for all children, and implement steps to meet those standards

and to raise educational achievement. Under the Clinton-Gore Administration, 49 states have

implemented standards in core subjects and the proportion of graduating high schools seniors

completing a core curriculum has risen to 55 percent. The President enacted legislation targeting

Title I funds to high-poverty schools and requiring States and school districts to turn around low-

performing schools. Today, nearly all of the nation’s highest-poverty schools receive Title I

funds. In 1999, the President enacted a new $134 million Accountability Fund, which is helping

school districts improve low-performing schools by investing in proven reforms. Next year’s

budget increases this fund to $225 million. The Clinton-Gore Administration has worked

to expand public school choice and to support the growth of public charter schools. In 1993,

there was one charter school in the nation; today, there are more than 2,000. President Clinton

fought for and won a new initiative to repair America’s schools, providing $1.2 billion for urgent

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school renovation. The 2001 budget also provides much-needed repair funds to Native American

schools” (The White House).

Each education reform has been met with praise and criticisms. The Goals 2000 made

measurable progress, yet still fell short of fulfilling its practically unattainable goals. The No

Child Left Behind Act has been met by many with hesitation because of its lack of inclusion for

students with any IEP supports in place. And complaints of the Common Core are that we are

teaching to the test. All are viable concerns, but one has to way the positives against the

negatives. The negatives being the impact of illiteracy on our nation (Washington County

Literacy Council):

- 23% of the adult population (40 - 44 million people) is functionally illiterate, cannot read

beyond a fourth-grade level.

- Illiteracy transcended SES

- Adult illiteracy costs society an estimated $240 billion each year in lost industrial

productivity, unrealized tax revenues, welfare, crime, poverty, and related social ills.

- Adults with low-level reading skills frequently suffer from health problems because the

lack the ability to read medical directions, health-related literature or prescription labels.

Chronic health conditions may go improperly monitored by patients who are functionally

illiterate and the overall well-being of these individuals may worsen overtime causing

frequent doctor or emergency room visits, hospitalization, or even death.

- According to the NALS, 40% of the labor force in the United States has limited skills.

- American businesses lose more than $60 billion in productivity each year to employee’s

lack of basic skills.

- The rate of illiteracy in America’s correctional systems is over 60%.

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- The saddest casualty of the illiteracy in America are the children who are affected by

intergenerational illiteracy.

- Children of disadvantaged parents begin their school life behind their peers. Parents with

minimal or no reading skills often cannot provide the kind of support their children need

to do well in school.

- Analysis has shown a direct correlation between young people’s test scores and the grade

level attained by their parents.

- Two-thirds of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of 4th grade will end up

in jail or on welfare. 

- 1 in 4 children in America grow up without learning how to read.

- 75 percent of Americans who receive food stamps perform at the lowest 2 levels of

literacy, and 90 percent of high school dropouts are on welfare.

We are a nation at odds as a result of our illiteracy. This is inexcusable when we mandate by

law that each child attend school. President Jonson took education reform seriously, and

Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama have shown the same support for educational accountability

and literacy development necessity. It is no longer someone else’s problem. It has become our

problem as a country, and we are playing catch-up in a time of economic recession and recovery

that leaves our schools needing more than ever, and unable to receive less than before.

Currently as we look at the new school year next year, we will be looking at Oregon fully

adopting the Common Core State Standards. This will mean looking at how to develop and

implement these standards. The best example I found of this was from the Massachusetts

Curriculum Framework for English Language Arts and Literacy Department of Elementary and

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Secondary Education. Effective language arts and literacy development curriculum

recommendations outlined are:

“An effective English language arts and literacy curriculum develops thinking and language

together through interactive learning.

Effective use of language both requires and extends thinking. As learners listen to a speech, view

a documentary, discuss a poem, or write an essay, they engage in thinking. Students develop

ttheir ability to remember, understand, analyze, evaluate, and apply the ideas they encounter in

English language arts and in all the other disciplines when they read increasingly complex texts

and undertake increasingly challenging assignments that require them to write or speak in

response to what they are learning.

An effective English language arts and literacy curriculum draws on literature in order to

develop students’ understanding of their literary heritage.

American students need to become familiar with works that are part of a literary tradition going

back thousands of years. Students should read literature reflecting the literary and civic heritage

of the English-speaking world. They also should gain broad exposure to works from the many

communities that make up contemporary America as well as from countries and cultures

throughout the world. In order to foster a love of reading, English language arts teachers

encourage independent reading within and outside of class.

An effective English language arts and literacy curriculum draws on informational texts and

multimedia in order to build academic vocabulary and strong content knowledge.

In all of their classes, including history/social science, science and technology/engineering, arts,

comprehensive health, foreign language, and vocational and technical subjects, students should

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encounter many examples of informational and media texts aligned to the grade or course

curriculum. This kind of reading, listening, and viewing is the key to building a rich academic

vocabulary and increasing knowledge about the world. Each kind of print or media text has its

unique characteristics, and proficient students apply the critical techniques learned in the study of

exposition to the evaluation of multimedia, television, radio, film/video, and websites. School

librarians play a key role in finding books and other media to match students’ interests, and in

suggesting further resources in public libraries.

An effective English language arts and literacy curriculum develops students’ oral language

and literacy through appropriately challenging learning.

Reading to and conversing with preschool and primary grade children plays an especially critical

role in developing children’s vocabulary, their knowledge of the natural world, and their

appreciation for the power of the imagination. In the primary grades, systematic phonics

instruction and regular practice in applying decoding skills are essential elements of the school

program. At the middle and high school levels, programs designed to prepare students for college

and careers continue to emphasize the skills of building knowledge through substantive

conversation, collaboration, and making oral presentations that are adapted to task, purpose, and

audience.

An effective English language arts curriculum provides explicit skill instruction in reading

and writing.

In some cases, explicit skill instruction is most effective when it precedes student need.

Systematic phonics lessons, in particular decoding skills, should be taught to students before they

use them in their subsequent reading. Systematic instruction is especially important for those

students who have not developed phonemic awareness—the ability to pay attention to the

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component sounds of language. Effective instruction can take place in small groups,

individually, or on a whole class basis. In other cases, explicit skill instruction is most effective

when it responds to specific problems students reveal in their work” (Massachusetts Department

of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2011).

Essentially, effective literacy development acquires multiple sources of input across

many socio-cultural and multi-cultural differences and comes together to help bridge students

literacy needs on an individual and grade level plane, working as a class through multiple

sources of instruction. As we transition through these new educational expectations the

challenges remain great, the expectations remain high, and the hopes even higher for politicians,

educators, and students alike.

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Works Cited

Common Core State Standards Initiative. (2012). Implementing the Common Core State Standards. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from http://www.corestandards.org/.

Davenport, D., Jones, J. (2005, April 1). The Politics of Literacy. Hoover Institution Stanford University. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from http://www.hoover.org/publications/policy-review/article/6464.

Huffington Post. 11 Facts About Literacy In America. DoSomething.Org. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-literacy-america.

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. (2011). Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for English Language Arts and Literacy, pp. 7-14.

The White House. The Clinton Gore Administration, A Record of Progress. The Clinton Presidency: Expanding Education Opportunity. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from http://clinton5.nara.gov/WH/Accomplishments/eightyears-05.html.

U.S. Department of Education. (2011, September 23). Obama Administration Sets High Bar for Flexibility from No Child Left Behind in Order to Advance Equity and Support Reform. ED.gov. Taken December 15, 2013, from http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/obama-administration-sets-high-bar-flexibility-no-child-left-behind-order-advanc.

Wikipedia. Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elementary_and_Secondary_Education_Act.

Washington County Literacy Council. The Impact of Illiteracy. Washington County Literacy Council. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from http://washingtoncountyliteracycouncil.org/WCLC.htm.