The need for basic literacy skills is vital for our nation to continue to operate successfully. With approximately 5 million students graduating below the national literacy standard and unable to read, we need to take a look at curriculum and teaching techniques to assess whether current systems need to be overhauled to better ensure that ALL students succeed. (Adolescent Literacy: A Policy Research Belief p. 1) The issue begins first with the definition of “literacy” and the fact that there are several aspects of literacy that are not currently included in the curriculum. Another problem is that the “old” standards in place do not support the level of diversity seen in many school systems today. Then comes the issue of funding for schools, and many schools in the best neighborhoods get the highest level of private and public funding and therefore are able to provide the highest level of education. However, in “The Literacy Education for All, Results for the Nation (LEARN) Act,” Senator Patty Murray states: “Research also shows that low-income children are less likely to have access to environments rich in literacy and high quality. These same children perform 40% lower on literacy achievement assessments even before starting kindergarten.” (Murray) So, whose responsibility is it to ensure the success of future generations? Will the federal government step in to create a better system for generations to come? There are several solutions that have been used by teachers, but with such an “old” system in place the problems of diversity, financial demand, rigidity of the curriculum to serve individual students, classroom sizes increasing on an annual basis, of the pressure to achieve sp...... middle of paper ...... skillfully when it comes to our nation's success for years to come. Works Cited “Adolescent Literacy: A Policy Research Conviction.” Adolescent literacy. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 2007. Camangian, Patrick. "Adolescent Literacy Policy; Making People Our Politics: Rooting Literacy in Lives." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy (2011): 458-460.Haynes, Mariana. “The Federal Role in Addressing the Adolescent Literacy Crisis.” Education Digest (2011): 10 (6).Jtneill. Wikipedia. 02 10 2009. 24 07 2011 .Murray, Senator Patty. “Literacy Education for All, Outcomes for the Nation (LEARN) Act.” S. 929. Washington, DC: United States Senate; 112th Congress, 10.05 2011. Standards for the English language arts. Newark, DE: International Reading Association, 1996.