Technology In Literacy

The current crisis in literacy levels of adolescents in Alabama and across the nation is well documented through the multitudes of assessments given to measure proficiency. Initiatives in education, such as the Common Core and College and Career Readiness Standards, provide for higher expectations for teaching and learning, as well as raise the bar for performance on standardized testing. These standards often do not take into account the remediation required for the students who lack the literacy skills required to meet the rigorous requirements for reading across the curriculum. Research reports from the national level, state level report cards, and local indicator results for both districts and schools prove a significant discrepancy between

expected literacy levels for the 21st century learner and actual performance in the academic environment exists. Only 34% of 8th grade middle school students at the national level are scoring at or above proficiency in reading according to the United States Department of Education’s report, The Condition of Education (2016). The Nation’s 2015 report card for Alabama shows that only 24% of 8th grade students scored at proficient or advanced level in reading, a score 5% lower than the national average (NCES, 2015).
Edge Middle School is a rural Alabama school which serves only 475 students in grades five through eight. With 66% of its students receiving free and reduced lunch, this school is no exception to the stagnant and declining literacy levels seen across the nation. According to the school’s most recent state report card, only 56% of students in tested grades measured as proficient based on the utilized reading assessments (ALSDE, 2016). Edge Middle School’s own analysis of trend data shows that reading scores on the ACT Aspire assessment have declined from 46% to 42% proficient over a three year period. The challenge for Edge Middle School is to ensure all students have the literacy skills needed to be successful in today’s rapidly evolving, technology dependent society. Unfortunately, with such high numbers of poorly performing readers, relatively few of the students have access to intensive individualized instruction needed to catch up on the basics, or expand upon current skills. With students who have such varied needs for literacy instruction, it is imperative that Edge MS teachers have a firm grasp on reading curriculum and pedagogy. These instructional practices must include engaging and varied methods that not only include usage of technology, but also meet the needs of all levels of readers in a classroom. This literature review will discuss content area literacy with technology integration and the need for targeted interventions for struggling readers. This study will further advance understanding of the pressing need to provide Edge MS teachers with systemic support, mentoring and professional development that focuses on increasing student literacy skills.
Content area literacy with technology integration
Reading assessment documentation at Edge Middle school demonstrates that students scoring in the proficient range has declined over the past three years. Digging deeper into data unearths that these students are entering middle school with low scores in reading comprehension. Wendt (2013) suggests that students who enter middle school with poor comprehension skills will struggle when engaging with more complex texts and content presented in higher grade level material. School data shows that while many students can read fluently, can recall text, and determine unknown vocabulary using context clues, these same students still lack the comprehension strategies necessary to successfully connect with complex texts that are beginning to be presented in content areas in middle grades.
The Common Core standards implemented throughout the nation is just the beginning of a call to action to increase literacy in all content areas among all students by using a variety of skills, strategies, technologies, and high standards for teaching and learning. Wendt (2013) reminds us that “students need to develop not only the ability to read, but also the ability to communicate socially and electronically in effective and meaningful ways.” In order to support these rigorous expectations for teaching and learning literacy skills in a 21st century environment, teachers must explore delivery of content by also including pedagogically sound usage of technology in instructional opportunities (Smith, 2013). This change in mindset may require comprehensive and ongoing professional development that focuses on deepening the understanding of effective practices for teaching literacy skills across all content areas with all modalities, including technology.
Inclusion of technology often opens additional avenues for instruction for struggling learners.

Often times, these learners will participate more freely in instruction because there is less fear of failure or judgement when independently working with technology. Helt (2003) states without the “face-to-face contact,” students often feel less inhibited and are more willing to participate in the learning activity. However, the process of including technology in literacy instruction in all content areas is faced with many barriers such as support, training, and teacher attitudes, beliefs and skills. Once again, throughout the research a recurring theme for increasing content and technology literacy involves ongoing and supportive professional development for teachers (Zoch

2016).
While today’s middle school students are typically familiar with technology, the primary concern for literacy rests within the skill set that the readers should be developing when using the technology. As students reach middle school, studies show that less time is spent engaging with actual text, but rather being exposed to text that is read to them or is summarized content. This loss of time for actively engaged reading is critical for students who are already struggling (McNabb 2005). Students are given access to the content, but necessarily text centered instruction based on sound pedagogy. The research also reveals that this is where collaboration among content areas can increase literacy skills. Teachers who are able to differentiate for student learning levels and styles, as well as collaborate to teach specific comprehension strategies and reasoning processes across content areas subsequently see gains in achievement (Nobles et al. 2012).
Targeted Interventions
Although many studies to support the use of Response to Intervention (RTI) for struggling readers in lower grades, research-based documentation to support the effectiveness of this process for older students is less prolific (Vaughn, et al. 2010). Graves and Brandon (2011) indicate their evidence based research shows that all struggling readers should be given specific targeted instruction in phonemic awareness, decoding, fluency building, reading comprehension and vocabulary enrichment. They also reference that the RTI process, if properly executed, should catch all students who are below and far below proficiency levels by sixth grade and place them at tier two status. Tier two should provide for the documented, research based instruction in strategic reading and writing activities desperately needed to remediate students who are struggling with content literacy. At Edge Middle School, student assessment data and grade level data supports that the RTI process needs to be re-evaluated to increase effectiveness. Teachers could benefit from professional development on selection of research-based interventions, application and documentation of the interventions.
Another deficit brought to light within the data dig of Edge Middle School’s content literacy crisis is the lack of opportunities for dedicated, targeted small group instructional time. It is noted that the extensive differentiation and specific remediation of skills needed for intervention of adolescent struggling readers often requires “intensive, small- group instruction provided by highly skilled teachers” (Wanzek et al. 2011). Often, in order for this to occur effectively, leadership must give special consideration to scheduling students and teacher days in order to optimize opportunity for instruction (Klein 2004). Collaborative planning times and allocation for time for students to remediate deficit skills by these “highly skilled teachers” is a key component in making visible change in student literacy. Leaders and leadership teams play a crucial role in establishing a school schedule that complements the expectation for collaborative planning. Not only must the collaborative planning occur, the teachers must effectively use the time to analyze data to create instruction that is designed to improve literacy across the content areas.
Conclusions
Studies and data on adolescent literacy rates and performance from across the county were reviewed to gain insight on methods to increase proficiency in reading at the middle school level.

While the literature supports that there are a multitude of strategies and methods to increase adolescent literacy rates, the research supports that low achieving readers in the middle grades are difficult to remediate and often require intensive support in order to make noticeable gains in a reasonable amount of time. Research also indicates that most schools do not have the resources allotted in order to provide for these gains at the pace needed to ensure that students will graduate college and career ready. Clearly, the literature and data present there is a need to improve methods and professional development for increasing adolescent literacy rates at both Edge Middle School and across the nation. The literature reviewed also provides a solid set of indications of instructional methods, professional development and teacher reflective activities which need to be committed to daily practice and embedded within lesson planning, data analysis and student

instruction.