In this article, Vicki Jacobs argues that as the nation strives to improve the literacy achievement of U.S. adolescents, educators must reframe the current “crisis” as a critical point on a continuum of historical efforts to address the particular challenges of postprimary-grade reading. Specifically, Jacobs examines the definition of adolescent literacy in the context of reading stages, which explain the contiguous and continuous relationship between primary-grade and later reading. She also discusses how historical relationships between skill and process instruction and between reading specialists and content-area faculty have contributed to the issues we face at this particular point on the continuum. Jacobs concludes by highlighting the opportunities ahead for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners who are positioned to respond to the adolescent literacy crisis and improve adolescent literacy achievement.

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Vicki A. Jacobs is the associate director of the Teacher Education Program and a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she has taught courses on curriculum development, secondary school reading and writing, literacy and learning, and the teaching of English. Her published works focus on secondary literacy development and instruction and on teacher education. She has served as a codirector of the Massachusetts Academy for Teachers and of the Transition to Teaching Math and Science Program, and as an associate for the Bard College Institute for Writing and Thinking. Jacobs is currently president of the Massachusetts Association of College and University Reading Educators.