Alabama Education Policy Primer

TOC	Table of Contents
Intro	Introduction by Kenneth K.Wong and James W. Guthrie
Ch. 1	Accountability, Assessments, and Standards
Ch. 2	Achievement
Ch. 3	Closing the Achievement Gap
Ch. 4	Finance and Funding
Ch. 5	Governance and Policymaking
Ch. 6	Math, Science and Technology
Ch. 7	No Child Left Behind (Elementary and Secondary Education Act)
Ch. 8	Reading and Writing
Ch. 9	School Choice
Ch. 10	School Leadership
Ch. 11	Teaching Quality
- - -	Education-ary

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Alabama Education Policy Primer

Ch. 8: Reading and Writing

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Overview
Reading is a fundamental skill that all children must master in order to succeed academically and thrive in the workplace. Research shows that if a child is not reading at grade level by third grade, it is considerably more difficult for them to learn to do so. This places a significant importance on reading instruction in the early grades. Studies indicate that effective reading instruction must blend phonemic awareness, or recognizing letter sounds, with an emphasis on fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. Research indicates that 20 - 40% of students require intensive, expert teaching in order to read on grade level. Teaching reading, then, has become "rocket science," and all teachers need support and training to be able to teach all children to read well.

Though Alabama's students are making progress academically, test scores indicate that Alabama is not keeping up with the rest of the nation. In 2002, nearly 50% of 4th grade students in Alabama fall into the "below basic" skill level on the reading section of NAEP, and approximately 80% of 4th and 8th graders fail to reach proficiency in reading. Less than 5% of Alabama's students are reading at an advanced level.

Second only to reading in importance is the skill of writing. According to the National Commission on Writing in America's Schools and Colleges, "If students are to make knowledge their own, they must struggle with the details, wrestle with the fact, and rework raw information and dimly understood concepts into language they can communicate to someone else. In short, if student are to learn, they must write."

On NAEP writing assessments, Alabama 4th and 8th grade students again score consistently below the rest of the nation. Further, less than 20% of all students in grades 4 and 8 reach the "proficient" level in writing. Only 1% of these students reach the "advanced" level.

Alabama has taken proactive steps to address reading and writing achievement. This chapter will discuss three such efforts: the Alabama Reading Initiative, the Alabama Reading First Initiative and the inclusion of the Alabama Direct Assessment of Writing in the statewide accountability system.