An international comparison of reading comprehension and performance indicated that juniors and seniors in the United States scored significantly lower than students in Brazil, Indonesia and other developing countries. Approximately 38% of high school seniors are reading at what is considered below basic levels, which indicates that there is a need for literacy programs in schools.

Many teachers were not surprised at these findings. They said it confirmed that even students who read well enough in the lower primary grades may encounter some trouble with reading later. In both middle schools and high schools, teachers usually consider themselves to be “content specialists” and believe that elementary school teachers are the ones who should be helping children to improve reading skills. One method of turning that around is to secure ongoing development by working with a literacy specialist who will coach the teachers on the best way of infusing literacy instruction while teaching.

There has been some action taken to improve these scores, including the No Child Left Behind Act that requires states to develop and administer assessments in the basic literacy skills. If the school wants to continue to receive federal funding they are required to give the test to all students in certain grades. There are several states that now require high school seniors to pass an exam in order to graduate.

If you need further proof that a standardized literacy program is needed for students, then consider the fallout from poor writing and reading abilities in post secondary circles as well, as 73% of employers have rated the reading and writing abilities of recent graduates as “fair” or “poor.” Over a third of the undergraduates needed remedial writing and reading courses during the first year or two in college.

In the high school literacy programs the teachers are asked to make the reading portion of a student’s curriculum more interactive, or “visible.” This program encourages students to gain more insights into the reading process, to read for recreation and to help with their problem solving abilities. School personnel have studied assessments and current research that is available on the reading process and realized that asking students to “read to learn” is difficult to do without supplying the proper tools for them to achieve this successfully. Many of the pilot literacy programs are set up to include a secondary literacy specialist who will split their time between classroom teaching and mentoring other teachers. The student’s progress is continuously monitored to ensure the program is working properly.

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Do you like to put your thoughts on paper? Does writing make you happy? Well, then you might enjoy article writing as well! Article writing can help you in more ways than one, especially if you have an online business. In fact article marketing is one of today’s most powerful tools for advertising and reaching out to the audiences. If done right, marketing of articles can give online businesses a much deserved boost. Go to reading skills for more information.

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Your Knowledge Grows – Researching an article well will require you to read from a large number of sources. Also, it will be your original creation so you will obviously be gaining a lot of knowledge which you might not be very well equipped with earlier.

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We can all write, and some of us can do the job exceptionally well. But if you think that you don’t have the time to polish your writing skills or you would want to concentrate more on the other aspects of your business, there are many professional writing firms out there. Trusting a professional with article writing is a always rewarding.

With complete knowledge of all the nuances of article marketing, these professionals can write articles which will suit your needs and those of your business, and greatly appeal to your clients.

Do you like to put your thoughts on paper? Does writing make you happy? Well, then you might enjoy article writing as well! Article writing can help you in more ways than one, especially if you have an online business. In fact article marketing is one of today’s most powerful tools for advertising and reaching out to the audiences. If done right, marketing of articles can give online businesses a much deserved boost.

Do you like to put your thoughts on paper? Does writing make you happy? Well, then you might enjoy article writing as well! Article writing can help you in more ways than one, especially if you have an online business. In fact article marketing is one of today’s most powerful tools for advertising and reaching out to the audiences. If done right, marketing of articles can give online businesses a much deserved boost. Visit reading and writing skills for further information.

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The art of reading has become just that, a dying art. No one seems interested in reading nowadays. Such is the impact of social media forms like the Internet, Facebook and video capturing the minds of the young; it’s hardly surprising that reading comes way down on the list of things to do.

‘The Times’ newspaper in the UK has published a report by the former head of Ofsted in response to concerns that children here are suffering from ‘word poverty’, being unable to string a proper sentence together before they start school. Other studies have noted that children from poor backgrounds have smaller vocabularies and less abstract ideas.

Now while it is unfair to assume that anyone from a poorer background is disadvantaged in this way. It is fair to say that anybody irrespective of their upbringing can pull themselves up by learning to read and learning to read well. It is one of the best gifts a parent can give to their child and it yields many benefits some of which are listed below:-

1) One of the best ways to educate yourself is through reading; you may not be fortunate enough to go to a university, or private school. However if you can read, you can have access to information and insight into areas that you once thought was beyond you. Famous self taught people such as Robert Burns, and Charles Dickens have risen to prominence and have left behind great legacies, partly because they educated themselves through reading.

2) Read and read widely, everything from the classics to poetry, websites, magazines, leaflets, blogs, twitters even adverts. It’s still reading and it will help you to expand your vocabulary as well as your spelling.

3) Reading aids comprehension, the ability to understand what you read. Developing good reading skills at an early age will perfect this. Being able to read well means that you will have no problem understanding manuals, contracts, benefit forms and other important documents in later life.

4) Reading allows you to exercise your mental powers of creativity. Often your imagination runs riot when reading a fiction book as your mind conjures up images of alternative endings and how scenes should be played out. If the book is then adapted into a film or play. It can be a big disappointment as it usually bares no resemblance to your ‘movie script’ which was so much better and more exciting and that is the beauty of reading the places it can take you to in your mind.

5) Reading improves your communication and writing skills.

6) If you have difficulty concentrating for any length of time. Try reading something of interest as reading compels you to focus.

7) Reading allows you to develop critical thinking skills and allows you to make decisions for yourself.

So there it is, reading has many benefits and those that can tap into those benefits from an early age will certainly reap the rewards later on.

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