Groundbreaking adolescent literacy legislation

On March 22, 2007 Senators Jeff Sessions and Patty Murray introduced the Striving Readers Act of 2007 (S. 958) in the United States Senate. This bill will vastly expand the capacity of schools to help older students who struggle with reading by establishing adolescent literacy initiatives aimed at increasing high school graduation and college readiness.

The legislation will expand the current Striving Readers Program, which funds only eight grants. The Striving Readers Act of 2007 will make funding available to every state to implement schoolwide adolescent literacy programs, support statewide initiates, and allow data collection and rigorous evaluation to document program success. In addition, this bill will prepare teachers to incorporate literacy strategies in core academic classes and will assist parents by training them to support their children’s literacy development.

The International Reading Association endorses expanded services for adolescent readers and urges members to contact their Senators to sign on to this legislation. See sample letter at http://latadvisory.blogspot.com.

See the press release announcing IRA’s endorsement.