Young Adolescent Literacy or

Young Adolescent Reading: 

They Are Not the Same

Dr. Leo Fay, Dr. Jack Humphrey, and Dr. Carl Smith

 

      As we struggle with continuing complaints about public schools and low test scores in grades 9-12, we must ask if we have changed curriculum and instruction in ways that lead to these negative effects.  For example, has the administrative formation of middle schools three decades ago altered our thinking about learning development and subsequently shifted instructional energies in grades 6-8?  Why, for instance, do our reading scores and our study skills slide ever downward during those years?  (The Nation’s Report Card: Reading, 2005).

     Though other suppositions could be offered, let’s look more carefully at the area of reading instruction because it serves as the single most revered benchmark for academic and career success.  We see a structural difference in middle schools that affects reading performance; that is its organizational roots.  We also see a problem of instructional perspective that might be labeled the difference between a literacy perspective and a reading perspective.

 

Middle School Structure

     We need to look seriously at the historical conditions that existed in K-8 schools prior to the movement toward junior high and middle schools.  K-8 schools with 400 to 500 students often had one reading teacher for fifth and

sixth grade students and one reading teacher for seventh and eighth grade students.  The reading teachers were responsible for reading skills and practice and for engaging students with content books, newspapers, and magazines.

     These same K-8 schools had separate English teachers.  Their main purpose was to teach oral communication, the writing process, and the language skills of grammar, usage, mechanics, and spelling.

     The middle grades in K-8 schools were taught by teachers who were trained for all levels of elementary instruction.  Their student teaching almost always involved experience in the teaching of reading. 

     Junior high schools and middle schools, when first organized, looked to high schools for an organizational model as they developed student and teacher schedules and curriculum.  Not surprisingly, since high schools had English, mathematics, science, and social studies departments, but not reading departments, the English/language arts department was handed middle grade reading instruction.

     Unfortunately the need for time in middle school schedules eliminated reading classes and reading teachers.  Middle grades schools following a secondary school model needed more time for advisor-advisee programs, foreign language, computer instruction, music programs, and so on.   Some schools opted for fewer classes on the daily schedule.  It was convenient to cut reading classes, combine them with English classes, call them language arts and take on a literacy perspective instead of a reading perspective, an attitude more in keeping with the education of English teachers  (Reading: An Indispensable Subject for All Middle Grades Students, 1995).

 

Teacher Licenses

     Unlike elementary schools, secondary schools have licensed teachers specifically for English, mathematics, science, and social studies.  Teacher candidates receive much of their education from arts and sciences faculty rather than from education faculty where elementary candidates receive many of their courses. Yet, most of the training for a middle grades reading teacher comes from the education faculty despite their desire to imitate secondary school arrangements.  When it comes to reading instruction, it then becomes more expensive to provide training for a few middle grades reading teachers as compared to large numbers of elementary school teachers or secondary teachers in arts and sciences.

     Even if all middle grades schools employed reading teachers as a normal part of their faculties, (they do not), there are relatively few of them needed.  An elementary school with 500 students has over 20 teachers responsible for reading instruction while a middle school with 500 students needs only three or four reading teachers.  This makes it difficult for higher education to invest in classes, curriculum center materials, and reading professors with middle grades experience.

 

Instructional Perspective

     Another issue in raising the reading performance of middle grades students is the difference in perspective between teaching literacy and teaching reading.  Teaching reading refers to helping students learn to approach, understand, and respond to the various contents of the printed page.  All related skills and thought processes involved in reading are part of the teacher’s instructional repertoire.  Teaching literacy, however, refers to the broader perspective of using literature to engage all the communication arts and skills.  Reading, writing, and the other communication skills are learned more intuitively in the process of  working together over a piece of literature, the province of the English teacher.

     Understandably then, the main focus of teacher preparation for young adolescent literacy classes is literature and responding, not discreet reading activities as such. 

     Young adolescent reading instruction focuses specifically on the process of reading and the skills or strategies needed to grow as a reader of content.  Young adolescent writing focuses on writing.  Reading and writing growth are no less important in middle grades than mathematics, science, and social studies. We believe that all should have commensurate time in the school’s schedule, and reading classes should be taught by licensed reading teachers as are the other subjects.

     Young adolescent reading instruction may have been lost in many middle schools, but that doesn’t mean it cannot regain strength and prove its value in the years ahead.  After all, we cannot afford to relegate a high percentage of underachieving readers to the high school drop out pile.  And the noticeable reading drawdown happens in the middle grades.  Some school systems report a 50 percent drop out rate between entrance to the ninth grade and high school graduation.  The statistics show that most of the drop outs have serious reading problems (Start Early, Finish Strong, 1999). 

 

Student Engagement

     Student engagement and achievement are highly correlated (Redding, 1991).  When more time is allocated for reading, gains in reading achievement should occur.  If students have one period for reading and one period for language arts, the return should be greater for both areas.

     Reading tests will soon be a required part of the high school program.  The Manhattan Institute reports that about 30 percent of students nationwide who enter the ninth grade do not graduate in four years (Greene, 2002).  The National Assessment of Educational Progress found that 25 percent of eighth graders were not proficient in reading (The Nation’s Report Card: Reading, 2005).

     There are approximately 8.7 million fourth through twelfth graders in American schools whose chances for academic success are dismal because they are unable to read and comprehend the material in their textbooks (Kamil, 2003).   There are over 11 million American students enrolled in Grades 6, 7, and 8 (National Center for Education Statistics, 2002).   If present high school graduation rates continue, over 3 million middle grades students who enter the ninth grade will not graduate in four years.  This is surely unacceptable in a time when the majority of the fastest-growing jobs will require postsecondary education. 

 

Resolutions

     Who should have the responsibility and resources to improve mathematics scores?  Math teachers, of course.  Who should have the responsibility and resources to improve writing scores?  English/Language arts teachers.  Who should have the responsibility and resources to improve reading scores? Reading teachers.

      In a typical middle grades reading class, the reading ability of students ranges from primary to high school levels.  It makes sense to provide reading teachers with an array of materials at various reading levels so they can respond to the needs of their students.

     In addition to working on reading skills, students need access to a wide variety of current and interesting books, magazines, newspapers and electronic resources (Plucker, 2006).  The school library/media center is the logical place where students can find attractive print materials for independent reading, and reading teachers can schedule class visits there. 

     More and more states are now defining licenses for middle grade reading teachers.  We take that as an indication that the practical world of middle grade performance is prompting responsible educators to guide the continuing development of reading across the years.  Universities do respond to state license requirements as a way of drawing students to their campuses.  State licensing agencies thus can exercise long range improvement in middle school reading in the way that they describe the requirements for middle grade reading teachers.

     It is serious business to acknowledge current problems and to propose that middle schools should include reading courses and reading teachers for all students.  Just as there is no single cause of the manifold shortcomings of middle grades reading, there is no single solution to putting things right. But we need to put forth a sustained effort to provide reading instruction that is better suited to the realities of our contemporary world.  We contend that higher reading scores and improved high school graduation rates require time for middle grades reading classes where highly skilled reading teachers with adequate resources can make a significant difference in the lives of students. This is the time to focus on young adolescent reading.

  

References

 Black, S.  (2005).  Reaching the Older Reader.  American School Board Journal.  http://www.asbj.com/2005/04/0405research.html

 Greene, J. P. (2002). High School Graduation Rates in the United States.  Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.  http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cr_baeo.htm

Kamil, M.  (2003).  Adolescents and Literacy: Reading for the 21^st Century .  Alliance for Excellent Education.  http://www.all4ed.org/publications/AdolescentsAndLiteracy.pdf.

 National Center for Education Statistics.  (2002)  U. S. Department of Education.  http://nces.ed.gov/programs/quarterly/vol_5/5_2/q3_4_t1.asp#Table-1. 

 Plucker, J, Humphrey, J, Holden, J., and Young, C.  (2006).  Trend Analysis of

Indiana K-8 Library Services Since the

 School Library Printed Materials Grant.  Center for Evaluation and Education Policy, Indiana University.

 Reading:  An Indispensable Subject for All Middle Grades Students.  (1995).  

Middle Grades Reading Network, University of Evansville.

Redding, S.  (1991). The Effective School Community.  The School Community Journal. 1:10.

 Start Early, Finish Strong.  (1999)  U. S. Department of Education.  http://www.ed.gov/pubs/startearly/intro.html.

 The Nation’s Report Card: Reading 2005.  Institute of Educational Sciences, National Center for Educational Statistics.  http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2006451

 

About the Authors

Dr. Leo Fay is Professor Emeritus (deceased) (Indiana University), Past President, International Reading Association. 

Dr. Jack Humphrey is Director, Middle Grades Reading Network.  jh25@evansville.edu  (University of Evansville)

Dr. Carl Smith is Director, Clearinghouse for Reading and English, Indiana University. smith2@indiana.edu  (Indiana University)