The National Assessment of Adult Literacy, given by the U.S. Department of Education, finds a significant decline in the average American college graduate's literacy in English in the past ten years. The Department says the findings underscore a critical need for high school reform.

The Reading Recovery Council of North America, Inc. is a not-for-profit association of Reading Recovery professionals, advocates, and partners. The Council provides a network of opportunities for leadership and professional development. It is an advocate for Reading Recovery throughout North America. Nearly 11,000 individuals have become members of the Council since its establishment in 1995.

The Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA), a special project of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, began assessing performance at the district level in 10 urban districts in 2002 with reading and writing assessments of fourth- and eighth-grade reading and mathematics. During the last two years, seven of the 10 districts posted larger gains than their peers nationwide in fourth-grade reading; eight districts posted larger gains than their peers nationwide in fourth-grade math; and, in eighth-grade, the percentage of students with basic math skills has increased in seven districts more than it has across the nation. In many of the systems, minority students are outperforming their peers elsewhere.

"Changing the World One Child at a Time Through Reading" is the theme for the 2006 National Reading Recovery & K-6 Classroom Literacy Conference.

CFK reports from: Dirksen Senate Office Building
Event: High School Achievement Forum: The Alabama Reading Initiative at Buckhorn High School
Organized by: Alliance for Excellent Education
Where/When: Washington, D.C., July 13, 2005

The Alliance for Excellent Education's second breakfast forum on high school achievement featured the Alabama Reading Initiative (ARI) at Buckhorn High School, a racially and economically diverse school in rural northwest Alabama.

First Book is a national nonprofit organization with a single mission: to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books.

Thanks to the Writers in the Schools program of Houston, Texas, writer Patrick Freeman, a native of Ghana, worked with refugee children from several African nations in a special series of Saturday workshops geared towards personal histories. Freeman found himself in awe of his young collaborators. This story originally appeared in the WITS newsletter.

The Alliance for Young Artists and Writers provides inspiration and validation for the next generation of artists and writers.

Some 8 million students between fourth and twelfth grade struggle to read at grade level, but efforts to help older readers have been hampered by the perception that we don't know how to reach them or how to best meet their needs. This Alliance for Excellent Education report identifies key elements for helping struggling readers improve their skills beyond learning to read to being able to read to learn.