The goal of the Literacy Matters project is to improve the literacy development of middle grades and secondary school students, especially those students who are struggling to succeed. The content within this web site focuses on what matters most in adolescent literacy development. The first two "matters" are adolescent literature and content area literacy. Literacy Matters seeks to reach three audiences.

The primary audience is teachers. They will find useful information, valuable resources, and creative opportunities for online professional development. In some cases, the web site serves to complement and extend face-to-face workshops and technical assistance.

The second audience is parents. Literacy Matters provides them with ideas about how they can support literacy learning at home.

The third audience is adolescent learners. For students, the site includes interactive, online tutorials LINK (accompanied by support materials for teachers and parents). Link

Literacy Matters is housed at Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) located in Newton, MA. EDC is one of the world's leading nonprofit education and health organizations with over 600 employees and 325 projects around the world. EDC conducts research and develops programs in a wide range of areas, including early child development, K-12 education, health promotion, workforce preparation, educational technology, and institutional reform.

Currently, the project is funded by the generous support of the Annenberg Foundation. Within the section on Content Literacy, the content on text structure, including the online workshops for teachers and tutorial for students, is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs under EDC's project HINTS (Help In Navigating Text Structure). We have also benefited from funding from the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education and Science within EDC's program AIM at middle-grades results.

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