AYPF Briefing on Promising State Initiatives in Literacy and Mathematics

As part of the American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) series on middle school reform efforts, an event was held last Friday on "Improving the Transition from Middle Grades to High Schools: Promising State Initiatives in Literacy and Mathematics." The event was to examine two promising programs implemented in middle schools in Alabama and Virginia to improve students' literacy and math skills. Because low proficiency rates in middle school reading and math test scores have been linked to high dropout rates in high school, states have implemented a variety of programs targeted to middle school students in an effort to improve overall graduation rates. Specifically, Alabama's adolescent literacy program, The Alabama Reading Initiative Project for Adolescent Literacy (ARI-PAL) and Virginia's middle grades mathematics program, the Algebra Readiness Initiative (ARI), were profiled at this forum. This forum was part of the series, "Improving the Transition from Middle Grades to High School." Additional information can be found at http://www.aypf.org.