The Southern Regional Education Board is advising its 16 member states to devise a comprehensive set of policies to improve reading for middle and high school students.
Calling adolescent reading “the most critical priority for public middle grades and high schools,” the report advises states to identify reading skills that apply to different subject areas, craft curricula, establish reading-intervention programs, and prepare teachers of adolescents to teach reading along with academic content.
It also calls on each state to prepare a detailed plan to work with school districts to implement the policies. The report says that Alabama and Florida are ahead of other Southern states in addressing adolescent literacy.