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It further cites ACT research that identifies complex texts as a key stumbling block, with many students scoring below thresholds predicting reading difficulties in college and workplace settings.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & 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article argue is the core issue behind SAT-related headlines?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"It argues that the key news is not that SAT scores have stayed steady, but that they have not increased over time, reflecting stagnation in literacy progress among college-bound students.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How do international adult literacy results support the article’s literacy-growth claim?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"The article reports that older U.S. adults ranked near the top among peers, while younger U.S. adults ranked in the bottom half across measures, including very low placement for those with limited schooling.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What does ACT research identify as the major stumbling block for students?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"It concludes that complex texts pose the central difficulty, with many students scoring below levels that predict reading problems in college coursework and the workplace, and with complex-text 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Adams  \n“F  \new Changes on SAT Posted by Class of 2010.”1 “Scores on SAT College Entrance Test Hold Steady.”2 “Class of 2008 Matches ’07 on the SAT.”3 Year by year, point by point, it is hard to see the  \nreal news in these headlines. The real news is not that the SAT scores have held steady. The real news is that the SAT scores haven’t increased. The SAT scores ofour college-bound students  \nMarilyn Jager Adams is a research professor in the Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences Department of Brown University and former chief scientist for Soliloquy Learning Inc. She is the author of numerous scholarly papers and several books, including two landmark works: Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print and Phonemic Awareness in Young Children. This article is adapted with permission of the Guilford Press from “The Challenge of Advanced Texts: The Interdependence of Reading and Learning,” which Adams wrote for Reading More, Reading Better, edited by Elfrieda H. Hiebert, copyright 2009 by Guilford Press.  \nhave been languishing not for one or two years, but for a longtime. Several decades ago, scores were much higher.  \nThe SAT score decline began in 1962, nearly 50 years ago. From 1962 to 1980, math scores fell 36 points to 492 while verbal scores fell 54 points to 502. Since 1980, the math scores have been gradually climbing back and are now at 516. Fluctuations aside, the verbal scores remain unchanged, even today stuck at 502.  \nIf I were writing the headline for the next newspaper story on the SATs, here’s what you’d see: “Seniors and Their SAT Scores Sabotaged by Low-Level Textbooks.” And if the copyeditor would let me, I’d add an exclamation point! The literacy level of our secondary students is languishing because the kids are not reading what they need tobe reading. This is a strong claim. Let me lay out the evidence and argument so you can judge for yourself.  \nNot Just the SAT Scores  \nTo be sure, whether scores on the SAT exams truly reflect relevant or important intellectual or academic proficiencies remains a topic of discussion.4 Yet, the SATs are not the only indication that  \nILLUSTRAT IONS BY NENAD JAKESEVIC  \nAMERICAN EDUCATOR | WINTER 2010–2011 3  \nthe literacy growth of our secondary students has fallen behind.  \nBetween 1994 and 1998, the United States joined 19 other developed countries in an international evaluation of adult literacy levels.5 As compared with their peers in the other countries, the literacy scores of older U.S. adults (36 years old and up) were quite high, ranking in the top five. In contrast, the scores for younger U.S. adults (35 years old or less) ranked in the bottom half of the distribution by every measure. Among young adults with a high school diploma or less, those from the United States fell atthe bottom of the pile, ranking 19th out of 20. Even among participants who had completed four or more years of postsecondary education, the scores ofour young adults were below the average for same-aged and like-educated peers in the other countries. The young adults in this study would have graduated from high school  \nAn analysis of 800 schoolbooks published between 1919 and 1991 found that the difficulty of the text had been significantly reduced.  \nbetween 1974 and 1998, during the period when the verbal SAT scores were bottoming out.  \nIn international assessments of schoolchildren, the performance ofour fourth-graders is above average. However, the performance of our high school students is average, at best.6 The results of our own National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) show a similar contrast: while the reading of younger students has been improving over time, that of older students has not. NAEP’s analysis of changes in reading performance between 1971 and 2008 shows that average scores of 9-year-olds increased by 12 points. Those of 13-year-olds increase","cbCaihjoOZ36uhHX","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaihjoOZ36uhHX","pdf",233904,"English","# The Challenge of Complex Texts\n# Not Just the SAT Scores\n# SAT Decline Prompts Investigation","[{\"question\":\"What does the article argue is the core issue behind SAT-related headlines?\",\"answer\":\"It argues that the key news is not that SAT scores have stayed steady, but that they have not increased over time, reflecting stagnation in literacy progress among college-bound students.\"},{\"question\":\"How do international adult literacy results support the article’s literacy-growth claim?\",\"answer\":\"The article reports that older U.S. adults ranked near the top among peers, while younger U.S. adults ranked in the bottom half across measures, including very low placement for those with limited schooling.\"},{\"question\":\"What does ACT research identify as the major stumbling block for students?\",\"answer\":\"It concludes that complex texts pose the central difficulty, with many students scoring below levels that predict reading problems in college coursework and the workplace, and with complex-text performance near chance for affected groups.\"}]","Advancing Our Students’ Language and Literacy - The Challenge of Complex Texts | PDF",1792074398,25]