It is Not Just About Content: Preparing Content Area Teachers to be Literacy Leaders

Media releases about adolescent literacy are rarely optimistic these days. National reports concur; both the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP, 1999) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA, 2004) found that students' reading skills decrease from elementary to secondary school and that voluntary reading among adolescents also declines. Those who work with adolescents in secondary classrooms recognize that adolescent literacy is in crisis. 'Reading Today', a publication of the International Reading Association, reports that adolescent literacy has been rated by teachers over two years (2006-7) as the "hottest topic" requiring educators' attention.