ODE Launches Program to Improve the Literacy Skills of Oregon’s 309k Middle and High School Students

In an all-out effort to improve the poor scholastic literacy achievements of students in public middle and high schools in recent years, the Department of Education (ODE) is launching a statewide program entitled the Oregon Adolescent |Literacy Framework (OALF).

The director of the ODE, Charlene Williams, says the statewide resource will provide content ‘for deepening educators understanding’ of essential components for adolescent literacy.

Reversing Poor Scholastic Academic Results in Literacy

The framework provides best practices and guidance for research-based literacy tuition in middle and high schools.

The program is part of the ODEs initiative to reverse poor scholastic academic results in literacy in recent years, aiming to help Oregon students achieve literacy excellence.

The ODE developed the OALF to help students to read and write competently and confidently.

The program is a follow-up to its 2023 Early Literacy Framework, which resulted in many requests to develop a literacy framework for educators in the state’s public middle and high schools.

Grade 6 through 12 students will benefit from the integrated strategies for advanced literacy and language skills. The OALF supports students in middle and high schools who struggle to read fluently or comprehend text at the required levels.

The OALF was developed in collaboration with educators, literacy experts, and community members across the state.

It also involved a ‘review of extensive literacy research, state, and national assessment data, literacy frameworks in other states, consultation with literacy researchers, and conversations with practitioners and community partners.’

The ODE says in a news release that additional resources to support adolescent literacy will be created, updated, and published throughout the academic year. This will include a ‘bank’ of online professional learning resources.

The OALF and additional supports are the latest in a suite of programs, materials and services dedicated to addressing the need to strengthen literacy skills among Oregon’s students as a matter of urgency, and will contribute to preparing scholars for college, careers, and civic life, once they graduate from high school.