Blog 1

In the past people saw literacy as the ability to write your name or read a passage that you were already familiar with.  Today, literacy is much more important, in fact people believe it will increase our future.  I see literacy as the ability to develop strategies for comprehending written materials.  Literacy is very important because it is needed to function in society and to develop knowledge.  Without the ability to attain literacy, a person will struggle to become successful in any other subject.  Literacy is truely the foundation for all things in life.

With a greater role of literacy in today's society, I believe there is a need for higher standards in reading.  I remember when I was a senior in high school and the incoming class of freshmen had 53% of its population reading below grade level.  I also knew many people who had to take introductory reading courses in college because of placing low on standardized reading tests.  I think the book takes current critisms, in regards to the United States reading levels, too lightly.  Although reading performance has slightly increased, I think we are still far away from where we need to be.  I personally believe that we should not settle for being ranked 14th out of 40 countries (in the recent IEA study).  Being in the 35th percentile of the countries is respectable, but as a country that leads a lot of the world our scores should be higher.  Like I said before literacy is the foundation for all things in life, and for our country to continue to be successful we must not settle for the growth we've made.  Having an incoming class of freshman with such a high percentage of students reading below grade level is completely unexceptable.  And having people enter college without the necessary reading skills is a failure by the schools.  There is always room for growth, and I have a hard time agreeing with the book that our students are holding their own when we see so many students struggling. 

How do we as educators continue the growth of our students literacy?  What strategies can we use to get students to attain literacy before high school, college, and jobs...especially if they're behind? And how can we get our country a higher rank?