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Literacy Challenges for the Twenty-First Century: Introducing the Issuescrutiny require significant literacy skills. Thenation’s ability to meet these challenges isquite likely to depend on the extent to whichthe electorate understands them.Another new challenge is the changing demographic composition of the nation’s children.As shown in figure 3, the share of the nation’schildren who are non-Hispanic whites isdeclining, while the share of Hispanic children is growing rapidly, and the share of blackchildren is holding relatively constant. As aresult, within the next thirty years, Hispanicand black children in the United States willoutnumber non-Hispanic white children. Asillustrated in figure 1, the literacy skills ofHispanic and black children are significantlylower, on average, than those of non-Hispanicwhite children. Unless the United States canmarkedly improve the literacy skills of today’sminority children the labor force of the futurewill have lower literacy skills than the laborforce of today.Large and Growing Gaps inLiteracy Skills by SocioeconomicStatusAs noted, our concern in this issue is not onlythe overall literacy skills of American students,but also the gaps between more and lessadvantaged children. The disparities associated with family income have grown markedlyover the past half century. Among childrenborn during the 1940s, the gap between theaverage reading achievement of those growingup in families at the 10th percentile of theincome distribution and those growing up infamilies at the 90th percentile of the incomedistribution was about 0.60 standard deviation.Among cohorts born in the first years of thetwenty-first century, the corresponding gap inaverage reading skills is twice as large, about1.25 standard deviations. That pattern,documented by sociologist Sean Reardon2 andillustrated in figure 3 of the article he and hiscolleagues wrote for this issue, is extremelytroubling.Figure 2. The Adult Occupational Distribution: 1979 and 20093519792009Percentage of employed adults302520151050ServiceBlue Professional Managers &occupations administratorsSource: Authors, based on tabulations of data from the Current Population Survey provided by Professor David Autor of MIT.Note: The data include all persons aged 16–64 who reported having worked last year, excluding those employed by the military and inagricultural occupations.VOL. 22 / NO. 2 / FALL 20125

Richard Murnane, Isabel Sawhill, and Catherine SnowHigh rates of intergenerational mobility havealways been central to the distinctivelyAmerican belief in opportunity, and educationis the primary mechanism driving upwardmobility. Low literacy levels among childrenfrom less advantaged families dramaticallyreduce the potential for upward mobility.Preliminary results from the BrookingsInstitution Social Genome Model show thatif the academic success rates of lower- andhigher-income children were roughly equal atthe end of elementary school, the lifetimeincomes of children from lower-incomeLiteracy Development: It’s NotJust Decoding and SummarizingAnymoreIf success in the twenty-first century dependsincreasingly on advanced literacy skillsand the education and training they makepossible, it is important for educators, policymakers, and the public to understand whatadvanced literacy is. In short, a new definitionof literacy is required—one that highlightsthe skills that children need to deal with thenew demands.Widely used assessments of reading comprehension typically treat it as a relatively shallowprocess—one that involves being able tofamilies could grow about 8 percent, orroughly 83,000, over their careers.3Figure 3. Percentage of Children Aged 0–17 in the United States by Race and Hispanic Origin,1980–2010 and Projected 2011–50.100Projected80PercentageWhite, non-Hispanic6040Black, non-HispanicHispanicAsian or Pacific Islander20BlackAmerican Indian or Alaskan NativeAll other racesAsian019801990200020102020203020402050Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates and Projections, as found at: e1. Data from 2000 onward are not directly comparable with data from earlier years. Data on race and Hispanic origin arecollected separately; Hispanics may be any race. In 1980 and 1990, following the 1977 Office of Management and Budget (OMB)standards for collecting and presenting data on race, the decennial census gave respondents the option to identify with one race fromthe following: White, Black, American Indian or Alaskan Native, or Asian or Pacific Islander. The Census Bureau also offered an “Other”category. Beginning in 2000, following the 1997 OMB standards for collecting and presenting data on race, the decennial census gaverespondents the option to identify with one or more races from the following: White, Black, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, andNative Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. In addition, a “Some other race” category was included with OMB approval. Those who chosemore than one race were classified as “Two or more races.” Except for the “All other races” category, all race groups discussed from2000 onward refer to people who indicated only one racial identity. (Those who were “Two or more races” were included in the “All otherraces” category, along with American Indians or Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians or Other Pacific Islanders.)6T H E F UT UR E OF C HI L DRE N

Literacy Challenges for the Twenty-First Century: Introducing the Issueremember (or quickly find) information read,to summarize a paragraph, to identify themain idea of a paragraph, and perhaps tomake simple inferences from information inthe text. These assessments typically requirereading a series of brief texts and respondingto multiple-choice questions based on themor perhaps selecting appropriate words to fillin blanks in the text. Assessments designed totap the skills that are directly relevant toacademic success and to workplace demandsrequire students to synthesize informationacross different sources, to evaluate argumentson a variety of dimensions, to understandvarying perspectives on an issue, and to assessthe credibility of sources of information—skills that we will call “deep comprehension.”Much literacy instruction in U.S. schools isguided, implicitly or explicitly, by “the simpleview” of reading.4 According to this view,reading comprehension depends on accuracyand speed of word reading and on oral understanding of the words to be read. The simpleview has had the salutary effect of ensuringthat educators recognize the need to includelanguage as well as word reading in earlyreading instruction. The utility of the simpleview declines, though, as the tasks used to tapcomprehension become more authentic andmore challenging. The simple view does anexcellent job of explaining comprehension ofthe sort that enables a young reader to answermultiple-choice questions about relativelybrief and effectively neutral texts. But it is lessadequate in reflecting deep comprehensionskills—those needed for reading to learn, tosynthesize, to analyze, and to critique.The simple view does not, for example, directmuch attention to issues of backgroundknowledge. Schema theories of readingcomprehension represent reading comprehension as a process of updating a reader’sknowledge schemas by integrating information encountered in text with informationalready stored.5 If the newly encounteredinformation confirms what is stored inmemory, then the reader can comprehendit with ease. If the new information conflictswith that stored in memory, then the readerneeds to analyze it for correctness, or at leastfor credibility, and decide whether to updatehis or her schema. If the new informationagrees with that stored in memory, perhapsextending it, then the reader can learn it relatively easily by updating his or her schema.Comprehension challenges rise when the textdeals with information unconnected to anyexisting schema in the reader’s knowledgebase. Such information is a challenge fordeveloping readers and continues to be anobstacle for mature, skilled readers.Americans struggle to understand newspaperreports of cricket matches, just as Britishsports fans do with reports of baseball games.The schemas on which to hang descriptions ofruns, innings, outs, and points are specific tothe two games and constitute the backgroundrequired for comprehension.Ironically, then, one of the most importantinputs to successful reading comprehension isknowledge, some of it acquired withoutreading at all. One major difference betweenchildren likely to become good readers andthose likely to struggle is vocabulary knowledge. As early as age three, middle-class anddisadvantaged children display enormousdifferences in the size of their vocabulary,because they have had differing experienceswith conversations from which they can learnnew things.6 Vocabulary is a convenient indexof breadth of knowledge. Knowledge createsthe framework on which reading comprehension builds.VOL. 22 / NO. 2 / FALL 20127

Richard Murnane, Isabel Sawhill, and Catherine SnowLiteracy Instruction: The Idealand the RealExcellent reading instruction, then, balancesattention to the skills required for accurateand fluent word reading with opportunitiesto expand students’ knowledge and language.Ideally, both these goals are kept in mind atevery stage of instruction. In far too manyU.S. classrooms, though, attention to languageand to knowledge building is severely diminished starting in kindergarten, when letters,then letter-sound pairings, then word readingabsorb all the instructional attention.PreschoolGood early childhood education providesopportunities to learn emergent literacyskills—to identify letters, to recognizefrequently encountered words like “stop” or“exit,” to write one’s own name, to know whatsounds the initial letters of a word represent,to rhyme, to use knowledge of letter namesand letter sounds to produce invented spellings. Reading aloud is often incorporated byteachers into this emergent literacy agendaand is used as an opportunity to point outwords and letters in meaningful contexts.The value of these emergent literacy activities is undeniable. They predict children’sskills at kindergarten entry, and children whodo better at letter recognition, phonologicalawareness tasks, and reading words as fiveyear-olds are very likely to have an easier timelearning to read. Children of low-incomefamilies are more likely to spend time inunder-resourced and informal child caresettings (see the article by Jane Waldfogel),where they have less access to these activitiesand where they miss opportunities to helpthem catch up to their middle-class peers.Children from families with more financialand cultural resources differ from their less8T H E F UT UR E OF C HI L DRE Nadvantaged peers, though, not just in knowledge of these early literacy skills but also inaccess to knowledge about topics related tothe natural world (bugs, flowers, tidal pools),to astronomy (what shape the world is, whythe sun sets), to current events (who thepresident is, what a mayor does, what a budgetis), to history (why the Civil War was fought,who George Washington was), to humanrelations (how aunts and uncles are related tothem, what divorce means). These differencesare indexed by enormous social class differences in vocabulary and are produced bydifferential access to oral language interactions, exacerbated by differential access toengaging and language-rich books read aloud,both in the home and in early child caresettings. Early childhood programs thatprovide such engaging and language-richexperiences do exist, and preschool practicesfocused on developing language and enrichingknowledge have been shown to be effective.7Unfortunately, they are not widespread.Primary GradesLiteracy instruction in the primary grades ofAmerican schools is generally dominated bypractices designed to ensure accurate andfluent decoding of grade-level texts by the endof grade three. Third-grade texts look like this:It was a fine summer morning,So Frances took out her bat and ball.“Will you play ball with me?”said her little sister, Gloria.“No,” said Frances.“You are too little.”Gloria sat down and cried.Frances walked over to her friendAlbert’s house, singing a song:Sisters that are much too smallTo throw or catch or bat a ballAre really not much good at allExcept for crying.8

Literacy Challenges for the Twenty-First Century: Introducing the IssueTexts like this, however charming, offer littleopportunity to grapple with deep comprehension. That is entirely appropriate because thetechnical challenges of reading English aresufficiently daunting that most students needlots of help and lots of practice to get good atit. Practicing deep comprehension while stillstruggling to decode multisyllabic words maysimply be too hard.On the other hand, children in the primarygrades can practice some aspects of deepcomprehension while listening to texts readaloud. They are capable of discussing andevaluating competing interpretations of acharacter’s actions and competing explanations for physical phenomena. They arecapable of integrating information fromdifferent sources, if they have access to thosesources with the help of pictures, read-alouds,and videos, or help from better readers.Observations suggest that primary-gradeinstruction devotes remarkably little timeto science, civics, current events, or socialstudies, perhaps because of the accountability pressures to ensure that all studentsleave third grade reading at the third-gradelevel. Thus, children have the opportunity tolearn reading as a tool, but the content thatwould support their later use of that tool forpurposes of comprehension and further learning may be neglected.Middle GradesFor most American students, ongoing literacyinstruction takes place primarily in Englishlanguage arts after third grade. In grades fourand five, English language arts typically offersa variety of text genres and tasks, and studentswho are still having difficulty learning to readare likely to receive special help. The selfcontained classroom model that predominatesthrough grade five facilitates flexible use oftime and some level of attention to literacyacross the curriculum.During the transition to the departmentalizedstructure of grades six through eight, literacyinstruction is severed from content instructionfor many students. Excellent readers do notsuffer under this regimen; they take the reading skills they have acquired, so far practicedpredominantly on fiction in most cases, andadapt them to the reading of science andhistory textbooks. Well-informed studentsare also unlikely to suffer; they may alreadyknow, from dinner table conversations or fromwatching PBS and the History Channel, quitea bit about genetic inheritance, survival of thefittest, and the Civil War, so they have richlyelaborated schemas on which to hang the newinformation to which their texts expose them.But students with marginal reading skills,and good readers with limited knowledgestores, encounter new and often insurmountable tasks. No one teaches them how to readscience or history, often because their historyand science teachers are unaware of thedegree to which the literacy demands of theirtexts deviate from those of books read earlier,but also because they do not know how toteach reading.Researchers have devised and evaluatedspecific procedures that teachers can use tosupport the growth of reading skills in thepostprimary grades. These procedures have incommon helping students establish a purposefor reading, modeling how to work actively tounderstand text, providing strategies tosupport them in accessing the text, providingexplicit instruction about differences in genresand discourse structures across differentcontent areas, teaching crucial presupposedknowledge (vocabulary and information)before exposing students to the text, andVOL. 22 / NO. 2 / FALL 20129

Richard Murnane, Isabel Sawhill, and Catherine Snowrequiring demonstrations of deep understanding (oral and written reports). The procedureshave been packaged into various approaches,curricula, and programs. They have not beenused as widely, or as well, as the nation requires.The Challenge and a Summaryof the Articles in the IssueGiven the economic demands, the educational challenges, and students’ needs fortwenty-first-century literacy skills, this issueexplores what is known about current levels ofliteracy, their determinants, and new strategies to improve literacy.Trends in Literacy Levels and GapsSean Reardon, Rachel Valentino, andKenneth Shores, all of Stanford University,provide a detailed look at how well U.S.students are performing. They find that abouttwo-thirds of fourth graders, three-fourths ofeighth graders, and three-fourths of twelfthgraders were reading at a “basic” level in2011. About one-third of students at eachgrade level were reading at a “proficient”level. Over the past forty years literacy skillsscores on assessment tests have not improvedmuch—in sharp contrast to sizable increasesin math scores over this same period. Thegaps in literacy skills by socioeconomic statusand race are striking. Throughout elementaryand middle school, girls consistently scoreabout 0.2 standard deviation above boys; theblack-white and Hispanic-white gaps areeach about 0.6 standard deviation; and theincome gap (10th vs. 90th percentile of familyincome) is larger still.While the black-white and Hispanic-whitegaps have narrowed somewhat over thepast forty years, the socioeconomic gap haswidened, and the gender gap has not changed.These gaps do not typically narrow as children progress through school. Indeed, they10T H E F UT UR E OF C HI LDRE Nsometimes widen. For example, the blackwhite gap increases between kindergartenand third grade and widens further by eighthgrade. U.S. scores are about, or a little above,average compared with those in other developed countries for similarly aged children. Theauthors conclude that literacy skills need to beimproved. They take the narrowing of racialgaps in the past and the reasonable successschools have had in improving math skills asevidence that literacy skills are malleable.Nonschool FactorsBecause literacy gaps are present whenchildren start school, nonschool factors suchas families and communities must play a rolein the acquisition of literacy skills and likelycontinue to exert an influence as children age.Jane Waldfogel, of Columbia University, usesthe differences between subgroups (by race,socioeconomic status, and immigrant status)to tease out what these influences might be.She notes that parents are critical to children’searly literacy. More advantaged parents aremore responsive to their children, interactwith them more frequently, and provide aricher learning environment through readingand other cognitively stimulating activities,such as use of a computer or visits to a library.Other factors playing a role in the acquisition of early literacy skills that vary with raceor socioeconomic status include health andhealth-related behaviors and participation inpreschool.The reading gaps between black and whitechildren are especially troubling because notonly are they evident when children startschool but they grow larger during the schoolyears. In contrast, although Hispanic childrenstart out behind (perhaps because of stilllimited English skills and lower levels ofparticipation in preschool), the gaps withwhites narrow or stabilize after a few years. A

Literacy Challenges for the Twenty-First Century: Introducing the IssueThe reading gaps betweenblack and white childrenare especially troublingbecause not only are theyevident when children startschool but they grow largerduring the school years. Incontrast, although Hispanicchildren start out behind, thegaps with whites narrow orstabilize after a few years.variety of nonschool factors could be playing ar

VOLUME 22 NUMBER 2 FALL 2012 Literacy Challenges for the Twenty-First Century 3 Literacy Challenges for the Twenty-First Century: Introducing the Issue by Richard Murnane, Isabel Sawhill, and Catherine Snow 17atterns of Literacy among U.S. Students P by Sean F. Reardon, Rachel A. Valentino, and Kenneth A. Shores 39 The Role of Out-of-School Factors in the Literacy Problem