Carnegie Corporation's Advancing Literacy program is dedicated to the issues of adolescent literacy and the research, policy, and practice that focus on the reading and writing competencies of middle and high school students. Advancing Literacy reports and the Time to Act series of publications are designed to encourage local and national discussions, explore promising ideas, and incubate models of practice. For more information visit www.carnegie.org/literacy. The Alliance for Excellent Education is a Washington, DC-based national policy and advocacy organization that works to improve national and federal policy so that all students can achieve at high academic levels and graduate high school ready for success in college, work, and citizenship in the twenty-first century. The Alliance focuses on America's six million most-at-risk secondary school students-those in the lowest achievement quartile-who are most likely to leave school without a diploma or to graduate unprepared for a productive future.The Alliance's audience includes parents, educators, the federal, state, and local policy communities, education organizations, business leaders, the media, and a concerned public. To inform the national debate about education policies and options, the Alliance produces reports and other materials, makes presentations at meetings and conferences, briefs policymakers and the press, and provides timely information to a wide audience via its biweekly newsletter and regularly updated website, www.all4ed.org.