Which outcome is most likely when students develop strong literacy skills across the curriculum?

• A. Narrow improvement in reading speed only.
• B. Diminished performance in nonverbal tasks.
• C. Greater ability to memorize facts without context.
• D. Improved ability to comprehend and communicate across subjects.

Answer: (D)

Building strong literacy skills across the curriculum means students can read, understand, interpret, and explain ideas in every subject. This isn’t just about words on a page; it’s about mastering a set of transferable practices: identifying main ideas, evaluating evidence, following arguments, using discipline-specific terms, and adapting writing and speaking to different audiences. When these abilities are developed across math, science, social studies, and language arts, students can grasp concepts more deeply and express their understanding clearly in multiple contexts. That broader, cross-disciplinary competence is why the outcome described—an improved ability to comprehend and communicate across subjects—is the best fit.

Narrow gains in reading speed capture only one aspect of literacy, not the deep understanding and cross-subject communication gained. Claiming diminished performance in nonverbal tasks isn’t supported by how literacy skills function across disciplines. Focusing on memorizing facts without context runs counter to how literacy builds meaning, argument, and explanation across subjects.