The Wasted Years : American Youth, Race, and the Literacy Gap

Xeroxed worksheets, withheld textbooks, wealthy PTA's and classroom libraries Chancellor Rudy Crew and a new literacy initiative "Are they worried I am going to steal?" What drives current literacy practices in high schools? Can new experimental high schools socialize teenagers at the beginning of high school? What are teenagers being asked to read Are suburban schools closing the reading gap: the experiences of one suburban county in Maryland Alternatives-communicating with parents The California experience: can standards lift the state's public schools off the bottom? Improving the capacity of teachers-the experiences of three states What does the research say about reading? Private school literacy practices Successful practitioners and the quality of reading The fork in the road and volume of reading Summer reading: what should be done? Can we have a crumb from the table? parents as supplicants in the political process The political position of teachers Loosely latched doors and teacher training Is state intervention effective? failed schools and state intervention in New York, New Jersey, Maryland and California The lure of investing new money into old environments: the New York State experience of 1984 to the present Measuring reading programs: what should the researchers be doing? Clinton to the rescue? What about the Republicans?

Listen to the voices of practitioners and of researchers in an attempt to identify the factors that are perpetuating the literacy gap in American secondary schools. Since the early 1980s, the literacy gap in the United States has not changed. African-American and Latino teenagers in 12th grade have the same reading skills as white teenagers in 8th grade. What factors in our public schools are creating this gap? Is the system of state-mandated courses at fault? Is the low level of spending on books in public school systems, usually under one percent of total expenditures, a factor? And what about the teachers themselves? Do they have the authority, the training, and the schedules needed to be effective sponsors of literacy? With The Wasted Years, parents who desire information about, and are concerned about the literacy gap, can learn of the missed opportunities for reading and writing in American secondary schools and see the complexity of the problem; teachers seeking new ideas for reading assignments can use the reading lists and the descriptions of silent reading programs as a source of new ideas; and administrators and policymakers charged with improving reading and writing skills will see the best literacy practices in a number of schools and will benefit from an in-depth history of New York State's efforts to identify and intervene in weak schools over the last 20 years. Since the new federal legislation, No Child Left Behind, depends on state intervention to remedy deficiencies in local schools, New York's efforts in intervention since 1982 should be studied. Features include: interviews with practitioners from a variety of school systems and subject areas, budget data on classroom resources, secondary sources talking about deprofessionalization of teachers, socialization of teachers, the effects of unionization on teachers' attitudes toward their jobs

Listen to the voices of practitioners and of researchers in an attempt to identify the factors that are perpetuating the literacy gap in American secondary schools. Since the early 1980s, the literacy gap in the United States has not changed. African-American and Latino teenagers in 12th grade have the same reading skills as white teenagers in 8th grade. What factors in our public schools are creating this gap? Is the system of state-mandated courses at fault? Is the low level of spending on books in public school systems, usually under one percent of total expenditures, a factor? And what about the teachers themselves? Do they have the authority, the training, and the schedules needed to be effective sponsors of literacy? With The Wasted Years, parents who desire information about, and are concerned about the literacy gap, can learn of the missed opportunities for reading and writing in American secondary schools and see the complexity of the problem; teachers seeking new ideas for reading assignments can use the reading lists and the descriptions of silent reading programs as a source of new ideas; and administrators and policymakers charged with improving reading and writing skills will see the best literacy practices in a number of schools and will benefit from an in-depth history of New York State's efforts to identify and intervene in weak schools over the last 20 years. Since the new federal legislation, No Child Left Behind, depends on state intervention to remedy deficiencies in local schools, New York's efforts in intervention since 1982 should be studied. Features include: _ This work includes the voices of practitioners and researchers in an attempt to identify the factors that are perpetuating the literacy gap in American secondary schools. Topics include the deprofessionalization of teachers, and the socialization of teachers.