Majority of students lack literacy skills to keep up with rigorous high school curriculum
SEATTLE, WA — March 13, 2009 — With thousands of high school students reading below grade level and dropping out of school every day, educators are seeking new solutions to provide the support necessary for these struggling readers to succeed and are increasingly turning to online learning.
Educators are able to take advantage of the latest in online learning to provide a solution that is the equivalent of a subject-area teacher and a reading specialist working side-by-side to provide instruction that helps students meet high school course requirements while improving literacy skills. That type of individualized instruction has increasingly become a point of emphasis as literacy struggles have been linked as a contributing factor in high school dropout decisions.
"It is extremely difficult for high school teachers to teach grade-level academic content in math, science, English and social studies to students with limited literacy skills," said Elfrieda Heibert, national literacy expert and principal investigator in the National Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners. "The problem is compounded by the fact that most middle and high school teachers specialize in content areas, and are not generally trained to teach reading."
Apex Learning®, the leading provider of digital curriculum for secondary education, has taken on this challenge by implementing four new standards-based courses that integrate literacy support into math, science, English, and social studies classes. The new course pathway, called Literacy Advantage, uses a comprehensive approach to support high school students reading below proficient in their efforts to successfully master rigorous grade-level content.
"We can help struggling readers be successful in the required high school courses and keep them in school and on track to graduate," said Cheryl Vedoe, CEO Apex Learning.
According to The Nation’s Report Card, millions of middle and high school students lack the reading, writing, and critical thinking skills necessary to succeed in college and the workplace. The Alliance for Excellent Education has found that for many of the almost 7,000 students who drop out of high school every day, ongoing difficulty with reading and writing figures prominently into the decision to leave school prematurely.
Seven of 10 eighth graders nationally read below a proficient level. At 65 percent, the numbers are only slightly better for 12th graders. Digital curriculum offers a much more individualized option to reaching students, many of whom benefit from learning at their own pace.
"We are successfully using Apex Learning digital curriculum for a range of programs — from middle school remediation in math, to high school credit recovery, and our new iHigh virtual high school," said Terry Grier, superintendent, San Diego Unified School District. "The new Literacy Advantage courses will address one of the district’s key challenges — supporting success for students who struggle in high school courses because they are not reading at grade level."