High School Programs E-Newsletter

Striving Readers Fact Sheet: Helping Readers Achieve and Succeed

The Institute of Education Sciences, What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) provides resources on identifying, implementing, and evaluating research-based education programs, including:

• Identifying and Implementing Educational Practices Supported by Rigorous Evidence: A User Friendly Guide (December 2003)
• Random Assignment in Program Evaluation and Intervention Research: Questions and Answers (June 2003)
• How to Solicit Rigorous Evaluations of Mathematics and Science Partnership (MSP) Projects: A User-Friendly Guide for MSP State Coordinators (May 2005)
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In addition, the WWC website offers a registry of individuals and organizations who have self-identified themselves to be available as third party evaluators. Applicants may use this registry or seek other third-party evaluators to assist them in designing evaluations that meet the requirements in the grant solicitation.

The WWC Help Desk offers practical, easy-to-use tools to advance rigorous evaluations of education interventions.

Adolescent Literacy Research Network

A partnership between the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development provides funding for multidisciplinary research projects and the development of an Adolescent Literacy Research Network. The research examines cognitive, perceptual, behavioral, and other mechanisms that influence the development of reading and writing abilities during adolescence, as well as the extent to which interventions may narrow or close literacy gaps for adolescents.

The Partnership for Reading

The Partnership for Reading is a national reading research dissemination project authorized by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The Partnership for Reading's mission is to make scientifically-based reading research more accessible to educators, parents, policymakers, and other interested individuals. The National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) is responsible for carrying out this effort.

National Institute for Literacy

The National Institute for Literacy's activities to strengthen literacy are authorized under the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) in the Workforce Investment Act and the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The AEFLA directs the Institute to provide national leadership regarding literacy, coordinate literacy services and policy, and serve as a national resource for adult education and literacy programs. The NCLB law directs the Institute to disseminate information on scientifically based reading research pertaining to children, youth, and adults as well as information about development and implementation of classroom reading programs based on the research.

National Assessment of Educational Progress

Often called "The Nation's Report Card," the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the only nationally representative, continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas, including reading. As a congressionally mandated project of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the U.S. Department of Education, NAEP provides a comprehensive measure of students' learning at critical junctures in their school experience.

Alliance for Excellent Education

The Alliance for Excellent Education is a national policy, research and advocacy organization acting on behalf of at-risk, low-performing secondary school students. The Alliance's Adolescent Literacy Initiative website includes news articles, research reports, and other recent information on adolescent literacy. The Alliance's Reading Next Report outlines a vision for action and research in Middle and High School literacy.

National Governors' Association

The National Governors' Association's, Reading to Achieve: A Governor's Guide to Adolescent Literacy Report (2005), examines the literacy crisis facing America. The guide highlights several State-based programs to improve reading achievement, raise high school graduation rates, increase the value of the high school diploma, and close the achievement gap.

National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE)

NASBE's, Reading at Risk: How States Can Respond to the Crisis in Adolescent Literacy (2006), provides ideas and strategies to help States develop more effective and comprehensive adolescent-literacy policies.

National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP)

NASSP's report, Creating a Culture of Literacy: A Guide for Middle and High School Principals (2005), is designed to help school leaders use research on best literacy practices to create a well-defined intervention plan that will improve the literacy and long-range academic success of students.