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Retarding America: The Imprisonment of Potential

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Millions of adults in the United States are functionally illiterate. But before they became adults they were children in our public school systems. Too many of these children also become wards of the juvenile justice system. This landmark book examines the relationships between juvenile illiteracy and the methods that are commonly used to teach reading, and what proportion of juvenile crime might be attributable to the failure of our school systems. The book also serves to report the results of a unique survey of literacy educators at juvenile detention facilities regarding their own educational background, preferred methods for teaching reading, and perceptions about the efficacy of different methods. Thus readers may judge whether juveniles are likely to leave the justice systems any better prepared to succeed in school or the working world than when the entered. This also has significant implications for public schools, since public school reading teachers have received the same instruction as those serving in juvenile correctional facilities.