Literacy Matters was designed for middle and high school teachers—not only English language arts teachers, but also content area teachers (e.g., science, social studies, and mathematics). The goal of our comprehensive (and ever expanding) web site is to provide information about research-based literacy practices, online professional development opportunities, rich lesson plans, and links to web sites in order to strengthen literacy learning for all students, particularly those whose problems with reading and writing become barriers to successful learning.

Currently, Literacy Matters is focusing on three key "matters" in adolescent literacy development: Adolescent Literature, Content Literacy, and Literacy and Technology.

We offer three online student activities related to content literacy. Two of them, Help Lee Decide and What Should Maria Do? are designed to strengthen skills in reading and writing compare-contrast texts. The third activity, American History Idol: Thurgood Marshall helps students read and write texts with cause-effect relationships. Teacher materials accompany all of the activities.