NFA is committed to producing experienced, confident, and skilled readers. Today’s adolescents, in general, read less, read less skillfully, and read with less comprehension than their counterparts of previous generations. However we live in a time when information is abundant, and critical reading and thinking skills are more important than ever. 

For the past several years, NFA has promoted an independent, silent reading program to encourage students to read more. The program provides time for sustained individual reading.  This program, “Reading Madness” is taking on a new name this year and is expanding.

• This exciting program’s new name is NFA READS!

• The program will take place EACH DAY for 20 minutes during an extended lunch period.  During that period, students will have a 30-minute lunch shift, a 20-minute reading period, and a class period.

• The program will begin on the very first day of classes.

• There will be an official program celebration and kick-off in October when students will be given the opportunity to choose and order a title, which the school will provide for them.

• Until that time, however, students must bring in their own books, magazines, and newspapers to read – from home, from the library, from the bookstore, borrowed from a friend, etc.

We ask parents to partner with the school in promoting this very important literacy venture.

Why is NFA Concerned with Building a Community of Readers?

The following general information about adolescent literacy in the United States prompts us to action…

America’s adolescents face an alarming literacy crisis. According to The Nation’s Report Card (a national assessment of educational progress), fewer than one third of eighth graders read at a proficient level. Today, millions of students leave high school under prepared for college, work, and the many demands of adulthood.

Alarming National Statistics….

• More than eight million students in grades 4-12 read below grade level.

• Only thirty-one percent of America’s eighth grade students—and roughly the same percentage of twelfth graders—meet the National Assessment of Educational Progress standard of reading “proficiency” for their grade level.

• Among low-income eighth graders, just fifteen percent read at a proficient level.

• In a typical high-poverty urban school, approximately half of incoming ninth-grade students read at a sixth- or seventh-grade level.

• A mere three percent of all eighth graders read at an advanced level.

• High school students’ ability to read complex texts is strongly predictive of their performance in college math and science courses.

• On average, African-American and Hispanic twelfth-grade students read at the same level as white eighth-grade students.

• About forty percent of high school graduates lack the literacy skills employers seek

The ability to read and understand complicated information is important to success in college and, increasingly, in the workplace. An analysis of the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) long-term trend reading assessments reveals that only half of all White 17- year-olds, less than one-quarter of Latino 17-year-olds, and less than one-fifth of African American 17-year-olds can read at a college- or workplace- ready level.

In a national education study, students reported spending 4 times as many hours each week watching television as doing homework

Children who are heavy TV viewers (over 3 hours per day), show the greatest decline in reading ability as they grow older.

Did You Know?  

• “Once children have mastered basic reading skills, the surest road to a richer vocabulary and expanded literacy is wide and sustained reading.” 

• Yet, many adolescents read less than their peers of 30 years ago or, even more alarming, choose not to read at all The less time young people spend with books and print, the less growth they exhibit on measures of vocabulary and reading achievement. 

• This pattern seems to be particularly common among minority youth who score lower on achievement tests and are admitted to colleges in smaller numbers relative to other groups.

• Researchers are in strong consensus as to a number of specific steps that can be taken to improve middle and high school literacy instruction—primary among which is to give students ample opportunity for sustained reading of engaging, interesting material.

  
  

  References:

  (Citations below are taken from “Taking Seriously the Idea of Reform:  One High School’s Efforts to Make Reading More Responsive to All Students”, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 47:1, September 2003.)

  (Hargis, 1997; Stanovich, 1986)

  (Allington, 2002; Anderson, Wilson, and Fielding, 1988; Cipielewski & Stanovich,

  1992; Taylor, Frye, & Maruyama, 1990)

  (Carlson, 1999; Glenn, 1994; Libsch & Breslow, 1996); (Beers, 1996; Schumm &

  Saumell, 1994). 

  (Larson, Richards, Sims, & Dworkin, 2001); (Durrell, 1969; Gardiner, 2001;

  Glenn, 1994); (Ogbu, 1994)

   

  Haycock, p5

   

  NAEP Results

  (Campbell, p77, Figure 3.27 & 3.28)

  (Campbell, p75, Figure 3.23 & 3.24

  (Campbell, p76, Figure 3.25 & 3.26)

  (Campbell, p72, Fig. 3.17)

  (Campbell, p73, Fig. 3.19 & 3.20)

   

  Office of Educational Research and Improvement, 1990).

  (Reinking & Wu, 1990)

   

  Alliance for Excellent Education Statistics http://www.all4ed.org/publications/ReadingNext/AdolescentLiteracyFactSheet.pdf

   

  National Center for Education Statistics

  (NCES, 2005, 2003)

  (NCES, 2005)

  (Balfanz et al, 2002)

  (NCES, 2005)

  (ACT, 2006)

  (NCES, 2004)

   

  Office of Vocational and Adult Education, 2002

  (Barton, 2000)

   

  Biancarosa & Snow, 2004     

  Adelman, 2006, 2004)

  Achieve, 2005