Time to Act: An Agenda for Advancing Adolescent Literacy for College and Career Readiness, pinpoints adolescent literacy as a cornerstone of the current education reform movement, upon which efforts such as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act must be built. The report's recommended actions point out important intersections with the $4.35 billion Race to the Top competitive grant guidelines with their emphasis on standards and assessments, data systems, great teachers and leaders, and efforts to turn around struggling schools. Additionally, the report is released as the Senate considers the introduction of a bill that would authorize $2.35 billion annually for five years for birth to grade twelve literacy instruction, 40 percent of which would go to adolescent literacy. These funds would dramatically increase the federal support for adolescent literacy efforts. The report notes the downward spiral of adolescent reading achievement levels: U.S. students in grade four score among the best in the world, yet by tenth grade students score among the lowest in the world. The report provides steps for leaders at all levels to combat this unsustainable trend for the United States. Time to Act is the capstone report of Carnegie Council for Advancing Adolescent Literacy (Council). Since 2004, under the direction of council chairperson Catherine Snow, professor in the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the Council has gathered knowledge and ideas from experts nationwide on topics ranging from linguistics to the social science of teaching. Time to Act is released with five corresponding reports, which delve deeper into how to advance literacy and learning for all students, including such topics as the cost of implementing adolescent literacy programs and reading in the disciplines.
Citation: Time To Act: An Agenda for Advancing Adolescent Literacy for College and Career Success (Carnegie Corporation of New York, 2009)
Program: Education
