No Child Left Behind: What It Means for U.S. Adolescents and What We Can Do About It

Abstract

For the past three decades and more, researchers in adolescent literacy have illuminated the challenges and opportunities facing adolescent learning. This article explores the connection between what we know about adolescent literacy and the mandates and initiatives of the No Child Left Behind Act in the United States. It connects what we know about adolescents with the federal government's newly authorized educational programs, and it considers ways in which research and policy could be more forcefully directed toward supporting adolescents and their literacy learning. Areas of convergence between adolescent literacy research and No Child Left Behind include emphasis on continuous reading instruction, developing knowledge of strategic reading and attention to individual differences. However, No Child Left Behind says little if anything about the contexts for literacy, specific understandings of adolescence, and what teachers need to know and be able to do in order successfully promote adolescent literacy. The article concludes with a recommendation for greater dialogue about adolescent literacy and research and policy concerned with building literacy from preschool through the middle and secondary years.