The International Literacy Association (ILA) is
my resource for instruction, leadership, and
professional development. Along with providing
these resources, ILA also offers many opportunities
to get involved. For instance, along with my newly
elected role of vice president, I’m also completing
committee work that focuses on adolescent
literacy.
The Adolescent Literacy Committee embraced
the charges launched by Immediate Past President
Douglas Fisher to update the Adolescent Literacy
position statement published in 2012 when we
were the International Reading Association (IRA).
The extensive work of transitioning from IRA to ILA
has involved closely examining and updating past
advocacy and research pieces.
Joining me in updating the archived position
statement are my adolescent literacy colleagues
Jennifer Aragon, Gwynne Ash, George Boggs,
Anna Marie Bonafide, Heather Casey, Victoria Gillis,
Denise Morgan, Brian Murphy, Janine Nieroda, Evan
Ortlieb, Justin Overacker, and Jane Saunders. This
is quite a team!
Together, we have extensively researched
adolescent literacy to bridge the knowledge
base from the previous position statement to
the upcoming one that will serve as an up-to-
date advocacy document that can be used by
educators, schools, districts, and ILA’s chapters
and affiliates. Once approved by the ILA Board
of Directors and edited for publication, the new
statement will be available on the ILA website at
literacyworldwide.org/statements.
Until then, I thought I’d share some of the
wonderful ILA resources already available that
helped us as we dove into our research on
adolescent literacy. We explored recent journal
articles from The Reading Teacher, Journal of
Adolescent & Adult Literacy, and Reading Research
Quarterly, and our committee also accessed recent
Resources at Your Fingertips
ILA UPDATE
position statements and literacy leadership briefs
issued by ILA that informed our work. In particular,
we found the following useful:
Collaborating for Success: The Vital Role of
Content Teachers in Developing Disciplinary
Literacy With Students in Grades 6–12 (2015).
This position statement was developed
by ILA’s Common Core State Standards
Committee and provides a thorough look at
content area literacy and disciplinary literacy.
Instead of the expected debate over which
one is most important, the authors distinctly
describe the significance of each.
Content Area and Disciplinary Literacy:
Strategies and Frameworks (2017). Principal
authors Amy Wilson-Lopez and Thomas
Bean continue the conversation about these
two approaches to literacy instruction.
Of particular instructional support is the
brief’s closing table, “Sample Combination
Approaches Using Literacy Strategies and
Disciplinary Literacy Frameworks.”
The Position Statements webpage on the ILA
website has an array of recent resources such
as these that are quick overviews packed with
references to other professional information.
From 2018 alone, you’ll find the following literacy
leadership briefs:
What Effective Pre-K Literacy Instruction Looks
Like
Explaining Phonics Instruction: An Educator’s
Guide
Literacy Coaching for Change: Choices Matter
Reading Fluently Does Not Mean Reading Fast
Democratizing Professional Growth With
Teachers: From Development to Learning
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literacyworldwide.org | November/December 2018 | LITERACY TODAY