The Federal Role in Confronting the Crisis in Adolescent Literacy

The American public recognizes that in order for the United States to compete in a global knowledge economy, high schools need to be improved dramatically. Young people are leaving high school without the advanced reading and writing skills required for career and college success.

Over the last thirty-seven years, the literacy performance of thirteen- and seventeen-year-olds on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has remained stunningly low, revealing that nearly six million of the twenty-two million American secondary students struggle to read and write.