On September 25, Alliance for Excellent Education President Bob Wise issued a statement in reaction to today’s release of The Nation’s Report Card: Reading 2007 by the U.S. Department of Education.

According to the Alliance for Excellent Education, research on the importance of and strategies for improving literacy among the nation’s secondary school students has reached a level of compelling consensus that confidently justifies changes in federal policy. 

Reading and writing instruction must be included in all academic areas if literacy is to improve to levels that will ensure the nation’s middle and high school students are prepared for success in college, work, and citizenship, according to a new report from the Alliance for Excellent Education. Literacy Instruction in the Content Areas: Getting to the Core of Middle and High School Improvement, argues that the acceptable standard for all students must exceed simply reading at grade level.

Four national organizations with a major focus on improving the academic achievement of students in grades four through twelve—the Alliance for Excellent Education, the International Reading Association, National Association of Secondary School Principals, and National Council of Teachers of English—enthusiastically issued statements of support today for the Striving Readers Act, introduced by Congressman John Yarmuth (D-KY) and Congressman Todd Russell Platts (R-PA).

Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia, issued a statement in support of the Striving Readers Act

Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia, issued the following statement today in reaction to the results from The Nation’s Report Card: 12th-Grade Reading and Mathematics 2005 and The Nation’s Report Card: America’s High School Graduates.

A new report released today by the Alliance for Excellent Education finds that the nation’s growing English language learner (ELL) populations, which increased 65.03 percent between 1994 and 2004, have been largely ignored as policymakers consider ways to improve adolescent reading and writing proficiency levels.

Writing is a critical component of literacy, but few high school students write well enough to meet the needs of employers or colleges. Today, the Alliance for Excellent Education issues a new report, focusing on the importance of good writing skills and offering new insights about techniques that will improve writing instruction for secondary school students. Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle and High Schools identifies eleven classroom practices that research suggests will help improve the writing abilities of students in grades 4-12.