According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), just over 70 percent of students nationally arrive in high school with reading skills that are below "proficient"--defined as demonstrating competency over challenging subject matter. Of these students, nearly half do not exhibit even partial mastery of the knowledge…

Drawing on the authors' considerable knowledge of the research and of federal and state policymaking in middle and high reading and writing, the Alliance for Excellent Education has worked for the past 2 months, at no charge to the state, to review existing data, gather opinions, study literacy achievement trends, identify literacy programs and…

This factbook presents the second comprehensive look at the conditions of children and families in Maryland. It can be used as an important tool in measuring how well or how poorly children are doing in 15 baseline outcome measures, organized in four basic sections: economic well-being, good health, safety, and preparing for adulthood. The data…