Preface

Raising reading achievement in middle and high schools is a difficult assignment, even for the most effective instructional leaders. Not only do most adolescents read less as they mature, the majority of their teachers are convinced that teaching reading is not in their job description. With the advent of "high stakes" testing, however, raising the reading achievement of middle and high school students has taken on a new urgency. Without the ability to read well, students face the very real possibility of failing their exit exams. Educators face failure of a different sort: the inability to provide students with the essential skills and knowledge they need to survive in today's complex, technological world.

In 1998, I wrote The Principal's Guide to Raising Reading Achievement and developed a workshop based on my personal experiences with raising achievement in a suburban Chicago elementary school. Thus began the exhilarating experience of working with thousands of educators in the United States and Canada. Many middle and high school principals attended the programs, frustrated by how little they knew about reading instruction and how few success stories were available to inspire them. They were overwhelmed with the enormity of their task and desperate for solutions. There are no easy answers to the problems of helping adolescents become more proficient readers, but there are programs that raise reading achievement, schools that are making a difference, and principals who are refusing to accept failure as the norm. Raising Reading Achievement in Middle and High Schools contains the most current research about what works, suggestions from successful practitioners, descriptions of programs that raise reading achievement, and tips from my own on-the-job experiences in raising achievement. You will find five simple-to-follow strategies that can help you lead your staff and students to higher reading achievement.

I have written with these five goals in mind:

• to convince you of the power that rests in you and your faculty to improve literacy in your student body;
• to focus your attention on a dozen variables at work in your instructional delivery system that can be altered to make a difference in reading achievement;
• to give you a short course in how children learn to read, regardless of age or grade, so that you can make informed decisions about curriculum and instruction;
• to demonstrate the importance of systematically teaching every student, even the best and brightest, how to read more strategically; and
• to inspire you to take on the assignment of motivating your students to do three things: 1) read more than they are currently reading, 2) read more challenging and well-written books, and 3) be accountable for understanding and remembering what they read.

This book has been written for several audiences. It is primarily intended for middle and high school principals to help them develop a plan for raising reading achievement in their schools. New administrators or those without a background in reading instruction or curriculum will find the book especially helpful. Reading specialists and central office administrators can use it to evaluate middle and high school reading programs and formulate district improvement goals. Raising Reading Achievement in Middle and High Schools can also serve as a valuable resource for site-based teams as they grapple with what needs to change in their schools. Finally, the book provides a source of information for reading educators at colleges and universities as they seek to make their classroom experiences more relevant to practitioners.

WHAT THIS BOOK IS NOT

While there are certainly many practical suggestions contained herein, this book is not intended as an instructional guide nor does it contain lesson plans for classroom teachers. It is designed to help you explore a variety of options so that you might be better prepared to exercise instructional leadership. The "silver bullet" for which you have been searching does not exist. School improvement initiatives must be rooted in a school's culture and climate and are better framed by a team of teachers in response to the challenges posed by the community and its students. There are many solutions to the problems of low or declining achievement, but determining what is best for your school will require research, study, and discussion by you and your faculty.

OVERVIEW OF THE CONTENTS

Chapter 1 explores the current state of reading achievement in the United States. We'll examine the results of the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading tests to see where we stand as a nation and also consider what adolescents need in their schooling experiences when it comes to reading instruction.

Chapter 2 introduces the first strategy:Focus on changing what you can change. You will be challenged to examine your beliefs regarding why students don't learn to read and then asked to consider twelve variables that can be altered to raise achievement.

Chapter 3 describes the second strategy: Teach the students who can't read how to read. Regardless of how desperately we may cling to the idea that the job should have been done by someone else, we must begin where students are developmentally. If they cannot decode words, we must begin there. You will be given a short course in how students learn to read and then be introduced to several programs that work with the lowest achieving readers.

Chapter 4 explains the third strategy: Teach every student how to read to learn. This strategy is a major key to improving overall reading achievement in your school; it is also the strategy that will require the most dramatic and systemic change. If students are unable to "use reading for their personal and professional needs in such a way that their prior knowledge gets synthesized and analyzed by what they read" (Curtis & Longo, 1999, 10), we must be prepared to teach them how to do this. Faculty will be asked to learn new skills; incorporate strategies into their content lesson plans; and assume instructional responsibilities they have heretofore ignored. The chapter includes blueprints from educators who have designed and implemented such programs successfully.

Chapters 5 and 6 introduce a strategy that is under-utilized, but enormously powerful: Motivate all students to read more, to read increasingly more challenging books, and to be accountable for what they read. The vicious cycle that paralyzes students when they fail to read enough must be reversed. Reading a lot increases fluency, vocabulary, and knowledge. The more students read, the more they know. E. D. Hirsch Jr. puts it this way: "The more you know, the more readily you can learn something new" (2000, 9). But merely reading-a-lot is not enough. Students must read challenging text and also be held accountable for what is read. There are no manuals that show teachers how to motivate students to read more. There are no programs that can share the joy of books with students. Every staff member must undertake this assignment with their own brand of enthusiasm and creativity.

Finally, Chapter 7 sets forth the final strategy of the five simple-to-follow strategies: Create a reading culture in your school. Instructional leadership, shared decision making, planning, parental involvement, and finally, assessment and accountability will be examined as they relate to building a community that not only provides instruction and motivation for reading, but demands that students and teachers be committed to daily reading as a skill and a practice.

The Conclusion relates a poignant story that I hope will inspire you to take action on what you have learned while reading Raising Reading Achievement in Middle and High Schools.

There are also four appendices. Appendix A contains a glossary to help you understand some of the jargon and terms currently being used in reading instruction. Appendices B and C contain descriptions of exemplary programs for teaching students to read and for teaching students to read-to-learn. Appendix D contains a complete set of the figures, forms, and exhibits used in the book.

FOR PRINCIPALS ON THE GO

One of my favorite middle school language arts teachers, Adrienne Hamparian Johnson, developed what she calls her "Goals-at-a-Glance." She condensed the key goals of the 8th grade Language Arts curriculum onto a sheet of Pulsar Pink, 8 1/2" x 11" card stock and laminated it. A quick glance at her sheet from time to time serves to refresh her memory and refocus her instruction on what's really important for her students to achieve. I have provided several such "goals-at-a-glance" reminders throughout the book and then reassembled them in one location, Appendix D. Use the Goals-at-a-Glance visuals to help you review what you've read; post them on your bulletin board to remind you of what works in reading instruction; or use them as overheads in a presentation to your reading task force or faculty. The first Goals-at-a-Glance in Figure P.1, previews the Five Simple-to-Follow Strategies that organize the book.

AN INVITATION TO READ

Reading has always been my passion. I can't remember a time when I haven't been a voracious reader. Perhaps if I'd lived in a city with its distractions of playgrounds and playmates, I might have read less, but in the quiet countryside, reading was my entertainment and books were my only companions. I can relate to Anna Quindlen's musings in her book, How Reading Changed My Life: "There was always a sense in me that I ought to be somewhere else. And wander I did, although in my everyday life, I had nowhere to go and no imaginable reason on earth why I should want to leave. The buses took the interstate without me; the trains sped by. So I wandered the world through books" (1998, 3). Like Quindlen, I too wandered the world through books as a child and I must confess, I still do.

While serving as a teacher, librarian, and elementary school principal I shared my love of reading with hundreds of students and colleagues. In the pages ahead, I will recommend a number of books to you, titles that I hope will stimulate your thinking and assist you in making progress toward the goal of reading proficiency and enjoyment for all students. Whether you call your reading SSR (Sustained Silent Reading), FVR (Free Voluntary Reading), or DEAR (Drop Everything and Read), "just do it." Read with a highlighter or pad of sticky arrows in hand so that you can return to the sections that stir your thinking or emotions. Remember, if you don't read a lot, how can you create a reading culture in your school?

THE CHALLENGE

I hope that after reading this book you will be motivated to set about raising reading achievement in your school. Changing the attitudes, achievement, and accountability of your students and teachers with regard to reading may require some changes on your part as well. Begin today by reading a book—perhaps one from my recommendations or a classic that you missed when you were growing up. Talk with students or faculty members about books they are reading. Wander around classrooms and notice how often you see students reading. Ask them about what they are reading and why they chose a particular book. Talk with your librarian about circulation trends and the reading habits of your students and faculty. Read aloud to students from your favorite poetry or short story anthology. If you're really ambitious, sign up for a reading methods course at your local university. Exercise your instructional leadership and creativity to lead your faculty and students to new levels of literacy.

For a complete list of all of Elaine's titles visit The Bookshelf.