Federal Research
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Dropout and Completion Rates in the United States: 2006
Laird, J., Cataldi, E.F., KewalRamani, A., and Chapman, C. (2008). Dropout and Completion Rates in the United States: 2006 (NCES 2008- 053). National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC.
Relative to their peers who completed high school, dropouts on average earn less income, and are more likely to be unemployed, in prison, or in poor health.
This report from the National Center for Education Statistics gives data about trends in dropout and completion rates since 1972 and examines the characteristics of both high school dropouts and high school completers.
Five States' Efforts to Improve Adolescent Literacy
Bates, L., Breslow, N., and Hupert, N. (2009). Five states’ efforts to improve adolescent literacy (Issues & Answers Report, REL 2009–No. 067). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands. Retrieved from http://ies. ed.gov/ncee/edlabs.
This report describes efforts by five states — Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, New Jersey, and Rhode Island — to improve adolescent literacy. Highlighting common challenges and lessons, the report examines how each state has engaged key stakeholders, set rigorous goals and standards, aligned resources to support adolescent literacy goals, built educator capacity, and used data to measure progress.
Reading First Impact Study: Interim Report
Gamse, B.C., Bloom, H.S., Kemple, J.J., Jacob, R.T., (2008). Reading First Impact Study: Interim Report (NCEE 2008-4016). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.
This report sheds some light on the impact of the federal Reading First program. The evaluation, completed by the National Center for Education Evaluation (NCEE), suggests that as a result of Reading First, more class time is spent on the five components of reading, but, on average across the 18 study sites, Reading First did not have statistically significant impacts on student reading comprehension test scores in grades 1-3.
What Content-Area Teachers Should Know About Adolescent Literacy
The National Institute for Literacy. (2007). What Content-Area Teachers Should Know About Adolescent Literacy. Washington, DC: The National Institute for Literacy, The National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Vocational and Adult Education.
The goal of this report is so help address middle and high school educators' need for basic information on how to build adolescents' reading and writing skills. The report is divided into two main sections: the first describes the components of reading proficiency, in order to help teachers better understand why poor readers struggle; the second section introduces four additional areas critical to the attainment of reading proficiency (assessment, writing, motivation, and the needs of diverse learners).
