Content Literacy: Fundamental Toolkit Elements William G. Brozo, E. Sutton Flynt T he purpose of this department is to address is- sues and present evidence-based practices re- lated to subject matter learning. We intend to provide readers with ideas and information about content literacy that will positively impact student achievement. In this inaugural column, we assert that teachers can increase achievement of struggling and diverse students if they engage in reflective practice and possess a content literacy toolkit comprised of strategies for increasing motivation and building aca- demic vocabularies. Too Many Are Striving or Struggling Juan, Ibrahim, and Mary are in fifth grade. All have strengths, but this year they are showing the effects of the “fourth grade slump” (RAND Reading Study Group, 2002). They are surviving but not flourishing in school. During these watershed years (fourth through sixth grade), it is imperative that students like them become engaged in content literacy learning because of the ever-increasing academic demands of school. Evidence about reading achievement presents sig- nificant challenges to teachers. On the National Assessment of Educational Progress (Perie, Grigg, & Donahue, 2005), 38% of U.S. students were found to have reading proficiency levels below “basic.” Indeed, between 1992 and 2005 there was no significant change in the percentage of fourth graders reading at or above the “basic” category in the United States (Perie, Grigg, & Donahue, 2005). The results from inter- national literacy assessments suggest the fourth-grade slump is not solely a U.S. phenomenon (Mullis, Martin, Gonzalez, & Kennedy, 2003; OECD, 2001). Early problems with reading often remain with children. Francis, Shaywitz, Stuebing, Shaywitz, and Fletcher (1996) tracked children with reading difficul- ties from third grade to ninth grade and discovered depressed reading achievement persisted for at least 74% of the students. Struggling readers are especially vulnerable to failure with content text (Brozo & Simpson, 2007). The growing number of inclusion students places further demands on teachers responsible for meeting content standards. Estimates vary, but most agree that about 20% of all children have some type of reading disability (Shaywitz, 2003). Students in poverty also present special chal- lenges to elementary teachers. At the same time, evi- dence from large-scale literacy assessments (e.g., NAEP; PISA; PIRLS) suggests children from low so- cioeconomic groups who have high engagement in reading also have higher reading achievement than might otherwise be predicted. Nevertheless, children of poverty without appropriate instructional supports to boost motivation and skills do compare less favor- ably with their more economically privileged peers (Berliner, 2006). Finally, an unparalleled level of transnational mi- gration has meant ever-growing numbers of students with limited English skills. The United States Department of Education estimates there are more than 5 million school-aged children in this category, two times the number of just one decade ago (Hawkins, 2004). Content teachers face unique chal- lenges meeting the content literacy needs of these language-diverse students. CONTENT LITERACY CONTENT LITERACY The Reading Teacher, 61(2), pp. 192–194 © 2007 International Reading Association DOI:10.1598/RT.61.2.9 ISSN: 0034-0561 print / 1936-2714 online 192