An Interview with Adolescent Literacy Expert Don Deshler
Rounding out our two-week celebration of NEA's Read Across America this year is Public School Insights' telephone interview with Don Deshler, one of the nation's most respected experts on adolescent literacy. Deshler is well known for linking policy to practice. As director of the Center for Research on Learning at the University of Kansas, he has been providing specialized training to secondary special education teachers for over 20 years
In the interview, Deshler discusses strategies for building schools' capacity to address the very specific needs of struggling adolescent readers. He urges schools to make adolescent literacy a school-wide focus, arguing that adolescent students with serious reading difficulties require both high quality and "high dosages" of instruction.
Deshler points to several schools that can boast stunning improvements in adolescent literacy: JEB Stuart High School in Virginia; Riverbank High School in California; and Muskegon High school in Michigan. You can be sure that Public School Insights will be checking them out.
Listen to about 5 minutes of highlights from my interview with Deshler here:
The full 25-minute interview is available here.
Alternatively, you can listen to any of the following sections:
1. Why is Adolescent Literacy Important? (1:43)
2. Is it Getting Enough Coverage? (3:09)
3. Can schools help struggling adolescent readers catch up? What are examples of such schools? (4:10)
4. Where do We Find Age Appropriate Material for Struggling Readers? (4:11)
5. The Team Approach to Content Literacy-What does it Look Like for Teachers and Administrators? (2:42)
6. Focusing on Instruction and Administrative Structures (4:00)
7. How Do We Ensure that Poor Behavior Does Not Stymie Learning? (1:48)
SIGN UP
Visionaries
Click here to browse dozens of Public School Insights interviews with extraordinary education advocates, including:
The views expressed in this website's interviews do not necessarily represent those of the Learning First Alliance or its members.
New Stories
Featured Story
The Long Turnaround
According to the numbers, Central Elementary School in Roundup, Montana, seems to fit the currently fashionable definition of a “turnaround” school. After many years of below-average test scores, the school has recently made double-digit gains in the number of its students meeting proficiency on the statewide assessment. In true turnaround fashion, that improvement appears to have happened in a very short period of time. As recently as the 2005–2006 school year, for example, Central’s math score was nearly 20 percentage points below the state average. In 2009 it was at the state average.
But ask current principal Vicki Begin about the school’s success and she’ll insist that it’s been anything but a quick turnaround. Begin, who is in her third year at Central, gives much of the credit not only to the school’s veteran teaching staff, which averages 23 years of experience, but also to her predecessor, Joe Ingalls, who guided the school from 1994–1995 to 2006–2007. Obviously, this is not a case of overnight success or of cleaning house and starting over. Read more...
School/District Characteristics
Hot Topics
Blog Roll
- Boardbuzz
- Edwize
- NSDC Reflections
- Advancing the Teaching Profession
- Principals' Office
- Principal's Policy Blog
- ASCA Scene
- The Leading Source
- PDK Blog
- ASBO Intl.'s Economic Recovery Blog
- Always Something
- AASA's The Leading Edge
- U.S. Department of Education Blog
- The Core Knowledge Blog
- This Week in Education
- PTA Blog
- Such a Smart Mom
- Eduwonkette
- Teacher Leadership Today
- On the Shoulders of Giants
- Relentless Pursuit of Acronyms
- Teacher in a Strange Land
- Teach Moore
- The Tempered Radical
- TLN Teacher Voices
- The Educated Reporter
- The Character Education Partnership Blog
- Center for Public Education
- Connect for Kids
- Once Upon a School
Post new comment