December Highlights

While there are no quick fixes when it comes to helping a struggling adolescent reader or writer, there are several things parents and teachers can do right away to begin to tackle the problem.

For Teachers

Ensure effective home-school communication:
Parent Teacher Communication: Making Parents Part of the Team

Adapt teaching strategies to student needs:
How to Adapt Your Teaching Strategies to Student Needs

Teach and model the cognitive strategies of skilled readers:
Teach the Seven Strategies of Highly Effective Readers

Consider an intervention strategy:
Interventions for Struggling Adolescent Readers

For Parents

Make the most of opportunities to meet with their child's teachers with tips from NEA and AdLit.org:
How To Make Parent-Teacher Conferences Work for Your Child
Attending Meetings to Plan Your Child's Individualized Education Program (IEP)

Understand what supplemental education services your child may be entitled to and evaluate providers:
A Parent's Guide to Choosing Supplemental Education Service Providers

If you suspect your child may have a learning disability, consider having him/her testing outside of school:
Having Your Child Tested Outside of School

From Procrastination to Persistence: Our Video Interview With Kate DiCamillo

Kate DiCamillo decided in college that she wanted to be a writer, but she didn't get around to actually writing until her thirties. Kate writes mostly for children and pre-teens, and her first book, Because of Winn-Dixie, won the Newbery Honor and was made into a film in 2005. Some of Kate's other books include The Tales of Despereaux-soon to be a movie release and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. Whether you've read her books or not, you'll enjoy her interview in which she shares her writing process and offers advice for parents and teachers to encourage children to read.
Watch the interview >

From the AdLit.org Classroom Strategies: Anticipation Guide

An anticipation guide is a strategy that is used before reading to activate students' prior knowledge and build curiosity about a new topic. Before reading a selection, students respond to several statements that challenge or support their preconceived ideas about key concepts in the text. Using this strategy stimulates students' interest in a topic and sets a purpose for reading. Anticipation guides can be revisited after reading to evaluate how well students understood the material and to correct any misconceptions.
Read more about anticipation guides >

Research and News

Trial Urban District Assessment — Reading 2007

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) recently released results of its urban district reading assessment. About 37,000 fourth and eight grade public school students from eleven large central cities participated in the testing. Results showed that reading achievement scores held steady or improved.
Go to website >

To Read or Not To Read

This research report from the National Endowment for the Arts analyzes studies on the reading habits of Americans and finds that while regular reading clearly correlates with academic and economic success, that adults and children are spending less time reading and losing their comprehension skills.
Read the full report >

When Girls Don't Graduate We All Fail

One in four girls does not graduate from high school, and the dropout rate is even higher for girls of color. According to a new report by the National Women's Law Center, female dropouts face greater economic risk than their male peers, including higher rates of unemployment, significantly lower wares, and greater reliance on public program to support their families. The report ends with recommendations for educators and policymakers.
Read the full report >

Book List of the Month

Biographies

Depending on the subject, biographies can be inspirational, informative, funny and bittersweet, and many young people are drawn to these books because the stories are real and relatable. The titles chosen by AdLit.org's literature advisor Jamie Watson feature artists, musicians, writers, scientists, sports stars, even a boy soldier.
Go to the list >

Featured Partner

First Book

First Book is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. First Book provides an ongoing supply of new books to children from birth to age 18 participating in community-based programs in thousands of communities nationwide, and has distributed more than 50 million new books since 1992.

First Book helps adolescent readers by making new books available for free or at deeply discounted prices to programs working with children from low-income families. First Book Marketplace is an online store featuring titles, discounted up to 90%, geared towards young adults. Additionally, First Book distributes free books, thanks to publisher donations, through the First Book National Book Bank and through grants from First Book Advisory Boards.

Help First Book connect with other organizations serving young adults from low-income families in your community-encourage them to register with First Book.

Memorable Quote

"It is my first morning of high school. I have seven new notebooks, a skirt I hate, and a stomachache."
— by Laurie Halse Anderson

About AdLit.org

AdLit.org is a national educational service of WETA, the flagship public television and radio station in the nation's capital. The goal of the project is to provide literacy resources to parents and educators of students in grades 4-12. Learn about easy ways you can link to us to let others know about the many free resources available from AdLit.org. AdLit.org is funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York and by the Ann B. and Thomas L. Friedman Family Foundation. The statements made and views expressed are solely the responsibility of the author(s).

All the best from AdLit.org

• Noel Gunther, Executive Director
• Katie Chase, Associate Editor
• Kelly Deckert, Web Producer
• Susannah Harris, Manager, AdLit.org
• Sun Kim, Web Coordinator
• Alan Lundy-Ponce, Director, Learning Media Websites
• Joanne Meier, Ph.D., Research Consultant
• Rachael Walker, Outreach Consultant

Newsletter editors: Joanne Meier and Susannah Harris