Post by David Gandhi on Apr 22, 2008 16:38:11 GMT -5
A BILL
To promote adolescent literacy
Section 1. Short Title.
(1) This act may be cited as the "Adolescent Literacy Act".
Section 2. Findings.
The Congress finds as follows:
(1) Only 68 percent of high school students graduate on time with a diploma, meaning that every year 1,300,000 students fail to graduate from high school.
(2) In 2004 alone, these 1,300,000 non graduates cost the Nation more than $325,000,000,000 in lost wages, taxes, and productivity over their lifetimes.
(3) High school graduation rates for low-income students and students of colour hover around 50 percent, as do graduation rates for students in urban school districts. Graduation rates for English language learners are particularly low.
(4) Only 34 percent of high school students graduate with the skills the students need to succeed in college or the workplace.
(5) Community colleges alone pay $1,400,000,000 a year to provide remedial education to students under 25 who should have learned these basic skills in secondary school.
(6) Seventy-one percent of 8th graders read below the proficient level on the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress, indicating that students in middle schools and high schools struggle to graduate because their literacy achievement is alarmingly low.
(7) Between 1971 and 2004, the reading levels of America's 17-year-old adolescents showed no improvement at all.
(8) In a typical high-poverty urban school, approximately half of incoming 9th grade students read at a 6th or 7th grade level, and among low-income 8th graders, just 15 percent read at a proficient level.
(9) On average, African-American and Hispanic 12th grade students read at the same level as White 8th grade students.
(10) Secondary school students' ability to read complex texts is strongly predictive of the students' performance in college mathematics and science courses.
(11) The 25 fastest-growing professions have far greater than average literacy demands, while the fastest-declining professions have lower than average literacy demands.
(12) About 40 percent of secondary school graduates lack the literacy skills employers seek.
(13) Students need literacy instruction at all grade levels and in every subject in order to improve their achievement and school completion.
(14) Researchers are in strong consensus as to a number of specific steps that can be taken to improve literacy instruction in grades 4 through 12.
(15) Lessons from the Alabama Reading Initiative, the Washington State Reading Initiative, and other successful adolescent literacy reforms can form the basis for the expansion of adolescent literacy efforts, and, in so doing, generate additional information on effective practices that can be widely disseminated and applied.
Section 3. Provisions.
(1) The sum of $200 million is hereby appropriated to a fund to be placed under the direction of the Secretary of Education, hereafter referred in this act as "the fund".
(2) The Secretary shall use the fund to award, upon application, grants to school districts within the United States to be used to promote literacy among adolescents, or those between the ages of 12 and 18 inclusive.
(3) The Secretary shall discriminate in favour of such programs as:
(i) Are from low-income areas
(ii) Are from areas which statistically display high amounts of young adult or adolescent activity
(iii) Are from areas where minority groups are significantly represented
(iv) Are able to demonstrate, with social or statistical science, why they are likely to succeed where previous programs have failed.
(v) Are from areas with a high amount of post-graduation exodus
Section 4. Enactment.
(1) This bill shall go into effect immediately upon Constitutional passage.
Section 5. Plain English Summary
This bill shall appropriate 200 million USD under the direction of the Secretary of Education to invest in Adolescent Literacy.
To promote adolescent literacy
Section 1. Short Title.
(1) This act may be cited as the "Adolescent Literacy Act".
Section 2. Findings.
The Congress finds as follows:
(1) Only 68 percent of high school students graduate on time with a diploma, meaning that every year 1,300,000 students fail to graduate from high school.
(2) In 2004 alone, these 1,300,000 non graduates cost the Nation more than $325,000,000,000 in lost wages, taxes, and productivity over their lifetimes.
(3) High school graduation rates for low-income students and students of colour hover around 50 percent, as do graduation rates for students in urban school districts. Graduation rates for English language learners are particularly low.
(4) Only 34 percent of high school students graduate with the skills the students need to succeed in college or the workplace.
(5) Community colleges alone pay $1,400,000,000 a year to provide remedial education to students under 25 who should have learned these basic skills in secondary school.
(6) Seventy-one percent of 8th graders read below the proficient level on the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress, indicating that students in middle schools and high schools struggle to graduate because their literacy achievement is alarmingly low.
(7) Between 1971 and 2004, the reading levels of America's 17-year-old adolescents showed no improvement at all.
(8) In a typical high-poverty urban school, approximately half of incoming 9th grade students read at a 6th or 7th grade level, and among low-income 8th graders, just 15 percent read at a proficient level.
(9) On average, African-American and Hispanic 12th grade students read at the same level as White 8th grade students.
(10) Secondary school students' ability to read complex texts is strongly predictive of the students' performance in college mathematics and science courses.
(11) The 25 fastest-growing professions have far greater than average literacy demands, while the fastest-declining professions have lower than average literacy demands.
(12) About 40 percent of secondary school graduates lack the literacy skills employers seek.
(13) Students need literacy instruction at all grade levels and in every subject in order to improve their achievement and school completion.
(14) Researchers are in strong consensus as to a number of specific steps that can be taken to improve literacy instruction in grades 4 through 12.
(15) Lessons from the Alabama Reading Initiative, the Washington State Reading Initiative, and other successful adolescent literacy reforms can form the basis for the expansion of adolescent literacy efforts, and, in so doing, generate additional information on effective practices that can be widely disseminated and applied.
Section 3. Provisions.
(1) The sum of $200 million is hereby appropriated to a fund to be placed under the direction of the Secretary of Education, hereafter referred in this act as "the fund".
(2) The Secretary shall use the fund to award, upon application, grants to school districts within the United States to be used to promote literacy among adolescents, or those between the ages of 12 and 18 inclusive.
(3) The Secretary shall discriminate in favour of such programs as:
(i) Are from low-income areas
(ii) Are from areas which statistically display high amounts of young adult or adolescent activity
(iii) Are from areas where minority groups are significantly represented
(iv) Are able to demonstrate, with social or statistical science, why they are likely to succeed where previous programs have failed.
(v) Are from areas with a high amount of post-graduation exodus
Section 4. Enactment.
(1) This bill shall go into effect immediately upon Constitutional passage.
Section 5. Plain English Summary
This bill shall appropriate 200 million USD under the direction of the Secretary of Education to invest in Adolescent Literacy.
