There is a large number of schools within the DEIS programme with a concentration of students with poor literacy skills. Schools have identified poor literacy skills as a key reason why young people drop out of school. It explains why some young people get very little out of school despite succeeding in the examinations. There are no easy solutions to this problem but recent research in Ireland and internationally points us in certain directions. In the Summary Report on Remedial Education (1999) Shiel & Morgan recommend that ‘schools in which low achievement in English and/or Mathematics is a serious problem should be made aware of school - wide restructuring programmes that have been shown to increase achievement across all pupils in these subjects’. More recently the findings of the Ready for Life ?(PISA) study (2001) by Shiel, Cosgrove, Sofroniou and Kelly ‘suggest a need to implement focused school wide and individual programmes in second level schools that are designed to target students with serious reading difficulties and, where such programmes are already in place (e.g. learning support), to examine their effectiveness’. A focused approach to addressing the needs of students with very low achievement in mathematics and science, where language skills are also implicated, was recommended. Research on what works in other countries indicates that, within post primary, a school wide approach starting in first year is very effective in improving literacy standards. The consolidation and development of basic skills in first year will prepare the child for success at second level and beyond. While students with a reading age below 8 are usually offered individualised programmes by the learning support teachers, those with a reading age between 8 - 10, to whom learning support resources cannot usually stretch, respond very well to a school - wide approach. Schools have had success by broadening the awareness of reading among all the teachers and encouraging the whole staff to analyse the reading needs of their subject. For the students this means that instead of a short withdrawal period once or twice a week when reading is attended to, they have an opportunity to work successfully at their subject all week long.