Reading and Literacy Development for
Upper Grade Youth in Alternative Settings

| Need | Understanding | Essential Questions | Themes and Sessions |

This module is designed as a resource for college instructors and staff developers who prepare secondary school, special education teachers to work in alternative settings.

The information should also be useful for all teachers who work with students at high-risk for school failure or for dropping out of school.

The focus is on teaching students who are outside the mainstream of education, those who are in shelters, continuation high schools, court supervised community schools, ranches and juvenile halls, state detention facilities, and other difficult settings.

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By the time students who are poor readers reach the 7^th grade, they have experienced years of school failure, class embarrassment, and often have developed a fatalistic view of their remaining years in school. The help that they received in the past has been, at best, marginally successful. These students are often “turned off” to school and are mental and emotional fugitives from education. Students with learning disabilities drop out of school at a rate twice that of their non-disabled peers.

In some high schools and in many alternative schools low reading levels are the norm rather than the exception. To combat this situation, some schools have called upon all teachers to work to improve the literacy levels of the students in their classes and have included a period before, during, or after school devoted entirely to literacy development.

At the same time, teachers at the secondary level are often ill equipped or resistant to assisting students with low reading skills meet subject matter expectations.

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Improving literacy has become every educators challenge. Today, the culturally diverse and multilingual student population require instructional changes if education is to be effective and relevant. Equal educational opportunity is demanded for all youth and is necessary if the nation is to prosper. A literate student body is every educators’ responsibility.

It is easy to forget at the secondary school level that student commitment, persistence, and enthusiasm for learning are predicated on a high degree of success in the subjects undertaken. Success is not easy for students who are poor readers. The dilemma for the committed teacher is how to assure the students 90% or more success rate in reading needed to bond students to the subject, the class, and the school.

The challenge is to achieve continual growth in the basic components of reading, namely word recognition and comprehension, and at the same time assure success with subject matter content and support for attitudes consistent with success in school.

Literacy improvement within this context requires:

1. specific focus on fundamental reading skills,
2. application of effective reading skills in content instruction, and
3. the development of learning strategies conducive with reading success.

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What reading development strategies are most appropriate and effective in secondary level alternative schools and how can teaching staffs become facilitators of that development?

What fundamental knowledge about reading development can assist teachers to become better sponsors of literacy and help students survive and thrive in a literate world?

How can teachers assist students to access, to comprehend, and to report subject matter information that is above the students’ reading level but within the students’ understanding?

| Top of Section | Top of Page | Themes and Sessions |

The following three themes are included in Reading and Literacy Development module:

1. Obstacles and School Programs (Sessions 1 - 3)
   1. Reading Process
   2. Impact of Reading Problems
   3. School Response
2. Reading Assessment (Sessions 4 - 7)
   4. Essential Elements of Reading
   5. Daily Applications
   6. Stages of Reading Development
   7. Assessment Materials
3. Reading Instruction and Strategies (Sessions 8 - 11)
   8. Instruction and Decoding
   9. Reading Fluency
   10. Reading Comprehension
   11. Literacy Strategies

There are three themes contained in this module. Each theme has information and activities designed for from 1 to 4 sessions, each session lasting from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours. Expected knowledge, skills and outcomes are provided for each session within the four themes. Lecture notes are provided for each session within each theme. Also provided are student activities, references, and resources. Instructors are encouraged to “go beyond” the content that is provided.