Literacy, Youths and the Legal System.

Every year, over 2000 students in Trinidad and Tobago score below 30% in the Secondary Entrance Assessment examination. These students can be classified as "at risk" students who would have to engage in some sort of remediation programme or intervention at the secondary schools in which they are placed. These intervention programmes are crucial since studies have shown that there is a corelation between literacy levels and students' trajectory to success in life. Snow, Burns & Griffin (1998) stated that literacy is a key determinant of academic, social and economic success in life. It is also vital for one to be able to function adequately in today's society. What this means for us as teachers and future reading specialists, is that unless we stem the tide of students who are performing below minimum level, based on current statistics we are increasing the probability of over 700 or 35% of this cohort of students becoming deviants and falling into the hands of the law. According to O'Cummings, Bardack & Gonsoulin (2010), Marquin & Loeber (1996), research has shown that students with low academic achievement are two times more likely to become delinquents than high performing students. They also tend to have a higher absentee rate from school than their high achieving counter parts.

Studies have also shown that a large number of youths who are incarcerated are only marginally literate. The challenge that remains for all educators, is that we need to adopt appropriate strategies and educational policies to make school and learning relevant to the lives of our students. One avenue which can be used to reach our youths is through the use of technology in the classroom. If we can motivate them to stay in school, and can make learning meaningful and relevant to their lives, then we will be making some real progress in reducing the number of students who may fall by the wayside.