Chapter 10: Afterschool Programs: Literacy Opportunities for Deshawn and Other Struggling Adolescent Readers

Deshawn is a sixth-grade, African American male student attending an elementary school in a large urban district. The district has suffered from low ratings on the state report card and has yet to attain the minimal requirements in student performance on the state achievement tests. Like many of his classmates, Deshawn’s reading performance is more than one grade level below a sixth-grade level, and he is reluctant to engage in the reading activities in the classroom or in reading for pleasure because of his struggles with decoding and comprehension. Deshawn’s difficulties in reading also impact his performance in science and social studies where he is expected to independently read the textbooks and complete the comprehension questions. Assignments involving writing are routinely avoided or given minimal effort by Deshawn. As a result, he appears to be disengaging from his academic schoolwork, earning one or two failing grades per quarter, but he has continued to have regular school attendance. However, when assigned projects that involve drawing or working with a small group of friends, Deshawn becomes excited about his work and is motivated to demonstrate his learning through his artistic skills and interactions with his friends.