The Problem and Research Perspectives.

      Considerable attention has been focused, of late, on adolescent performance and achievement on  high levels of literacy, reading and writing, across the globe (Czikszentmihalyi, M.; Rathunde, K. & Whalen, S.;  Horowitz, 2015). The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (2010) provides a detailed report of performance of adolescents in nations across the world in reading, mathematics, and science, known as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).  This report identifies nations at various points in time and trends toward high literacy performance. High literacy is described in this paper as the ability to analyze, synthesize, interpret, and evaluate arguments presented in extended discourse in non-narrative text sources including expository, informational sources, and, particularly. persuasive sources. Reading and writing with high literacy appears to have plummeted in many countries in the world. This has serious implications for adolescent students’ performance across all subject areas including achievement in mathematics and science but also the humanities and arts which seem to be less discussed in international reports. The ability to read and write more difficult text that requires high levels of metacognition and analytical skills is necessary for students to advance in school; our research shows that those students who do not succeed at high levels of reading, particularly in urban high schools, choose to drop-out of high school and/or do not pursue the much needed higher education, require for succeeding in the work place. The implications for all nations where there is little high literacy is increased poverty. Particular attention here is given to the reading and writing of argumentation, necessary if students are to function with sound reasoning and clear thinking and, in many locales of the world, achieve and maintain democracy in their nations.

Objectives:

This paper asks the following questions.

1. What is the status of adolescent reading and writing, in various locales across the world, based on PISA reporting? Which countries are gaining in high levels of literacy performance? To what extent are we examining ability to process and produce argumentation in persuasive sources? Where is there plummeting in reading scores?

2. What difficulties/obstacles are students across the globe facing in becoming high level readers and writers of persuasion? 

3. What factors have contributed to student success or failure in reading and writing achievements in specific nations?  What new standards are being advanced particularly in the United States to raise achievement in reading and writing arguments in persuasive texts?

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