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Overview
Literacy & No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
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Overview
Literacy is often referred to as the cornerstone of education and the building block for success. States have long recognized the importance of ensuring that children and families are equipped with adequate literacy skills and have established myriad state programs and policies with an emphasis on scientifically based reading instruction strategies. In 1996, the California Legislature enacted the California Comprehensive Reading Leadership Program Act that seeks, among numerous components, to “focus on systematically explicit phonics instruction, phonemic awareness, sound-symbol relationships, decoding, word-attack skills, spelling instruction, diagnosis of reading deficiencies, research on how children learn to read, research on how proficient readers read, the structure of the English language, relationships between reading, writing, and spelling, planning and delivery of independent pupil reading of high quality books, and the relationship of that reading to improved reading performance.”
During the same year, the Colorado legislature passed the Colorado Basic Literacy Act, which mandates that all students read at the third grade level by the end of third grade before they can be promoted to the fourth grade. In the event that a student is found not to be reading at grade level, the student receives an Individual Literacy Plan or is enrolled in an intensive literacy program tailored to his or her individual needs.  Additionally, the Colorado Department of Education has created a “Continuum of Reading Services,” which suggests not only a variety of approaches schools might offer struggling readers, but a best practices section as well. Furthermore, recognizing that early childhood education can have a profound impact on student achievement, the Virginia legislature enacted the Virginia Early Intervention Reading Initiative in 1997, to provide first graders who have reading difficulties with an additional two and a half hours of reading instruction every week during the school year.
Although the majority of state legislatures have enacted programs and policies promoting and enhancing the quality of early childhood, adolescent, and middle and high school literacy instruction, nationwide student achievement has remained stagnant at best. According to the Nation’s Report Card’s Reading Highlights of 2003, the average reading scores for fourth and eighth graders have seen minimal improvements in the past decade. In 1992, 29 percent of fourth graders were performing at or above the proficient reading level. The report defines proficient as a level that represents solid academic performance for each grade assessed. Furthermore, the report states, “students reaching this level have demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter, including subject-matter knowledge, application of such knowledge to real-world situations, and analytical skills appropriate to the subject matter.” In 2003, 31 percent of fourth graders were performing at the same level. The percentages for eight graders are similar to those of fourth graders, with 29 percent performing at or above proficient in 1992 and 32 percent performing at or above proficient in 2003.
Recognizing the need to boost literacy skills among primary and secondary school children, the federal government has provided resources for additional research. In 1997, Congress charged the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), in collaboration with the secretary of Education, to convene a national panel to assess the effectiveness of a multitude of reading techniques. The National Reading Panel (NRP), comprised of 14 leading scientists in reading research, reviewed research-based knowledge on reading instruction and held open meetings across the United States the panel concluded its work in April of 2000 and released “The Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching Children to Read.” The panel’s five scientifically based effective reading instruction components include: phonemic awareness; phonics; vocabulary development; reading fluency; and reading comprehension strategies. Additionally, the federal government’s involvement in literacy continues with the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). It emphasizes the importance of literacy with a number of reading initiatives and programs.
America’s school children are not the only sector of our society showing substandard literary achievement.  The National Endowment for the Arts July 2004 report, entitled “Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America,” concluded that literary reading among adults (aged 18 and over) underwent a steep decline in the last 20 years. In 1982, approximately 57 percent of those polled reported reading some literature (which encompasses novels, short stories, and/or plays) in the previous year. Nearly two decades later in 2002, only 46.7 percent reported literary reading in the preceding 12 months. This alarming statistic represents a loss of approximately 20 million potential readers.
Recent scientific-based research has begun to transform the way educators teach and policymakers shape literacy legislation.  This research particularly notes “the literacy cycle” and how each developmental phase interacts and influences the next. Research shows that parental literacy is one of the single most important indicators of a child’s success. The National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) has concluded that youngsters whose parents are functionally illiterate are twice as likely as their peers to be functionally illiterate themselves. Similarly, early childhood literacy is an important indicator of the future success of adolescents and young adults. The National Research Council has determined that the academic success of a student, as defined by high school graduation, can be predicted with reasonable accuracy by knowing a student’s reading skill at the end of third grade. A student who is not at least a modestly skilled reader at the end of third grade is unlikely to graduate from high school. To bring the developmental phases full circle, high school graduate rates are fundamental predictors of post-secondary education and ultimately the success of an individual in the working world. Consequently, each developmental phase has a significant impact on both preceding and succeeding phases.
This Web site includes information on the No Child Left Behind Act; literacy reports and studies specific to an individual’s developmental phase; literacy policy; literacy links; and a section dedicated to current news articles.
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