While more research needs to be done in the area of adolescent literacy, there is growing agreement about some of the characteristics successful literacy intervention programs share. The purpose of this brief is to provide information to help policymakers, educators, parents, and others concerned with adolescent literacy make informed decisions about literacy programs for struggling readers and the programs' suitability for specific groups of students. The brief is designed to help decision makers ask the right questions when assessing literacy programs for selection for federal, state, and local funding. Specifically, this issue brief addresses eight questions in assessing any literacy program: (1) For what age group is the program designed? (2) For what reading level is the program designed? (3) Is there independent research about the program; if so, what does it say about the program's effectiveness? (4) Has the program been demonstrated to be effective with the age group(s) and reading level(s) of the students in question? (5) What sort of support (such as training) does the program offer the teacher? (6) What level of expertise is assumed of the teacher? (7) What is the cost, both direct and indirect, of the program? and (8) To what extent does the program require changes in the structure of the school or district?