Book excerpt: Addresses middle and high school classroom teachers¿, administrators¿, and parents¿ need for info. about how to build adolescents¿ reading and writing skills. It provides more general info. for content-area teachers so that they will gain a deeper understanding of the underlying skills their students will need and the kind of instruction needed to develop these skills. The report describes 5 key components that are critical to the development of reading proficiency: decoding/phonemic awareness and phonics, morphology, vocab., fluency, and text comprehension. It also discusses 4 other areas that are fundamental in helping adolescents achieve advanced levels of literacy: assessment, writing, motivation, and the needs of diverse learners. Illus.