Getting the right literacy and numeracy skills for the 21st century.

Despite improvements in literacy and numeracy standards, children continue to leave primary school with inadequate basic skills. Moreover, standards of literacy and numeracy in secondary schools are proving more difficult to shift. In this article Alan Wells draws on his visits to more than 1,000 schools to suggest how teachers might raise standards further. He argues that we need to adopt a reform agenda that builds on the best aspects of the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies and gets rid of the worst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]