RALEIGH -- Some coaches are taking on a new challenge in schools across the state. They're showing students strategies to improve their reading and writing skills. They are also letting teachers in on the secret, as well.

State educators want to boost student test scores in those areas. Results of a national writing test released this week showed that less than half of our state's eighth-graders earned a "proficient" score.

Jo Poythress, a literacy coach at East Wake Middle School, said she believes that good readers make good students.

"We're trying to get the reading skills and reading strategies in place so that they're going to be more successful in high school," she said. "The idea is that that's going to lower the dropout rate."

State lawmakers funded the initiative in 2006 as part of Gov. Mike Easley's Middle School Literacy Coach Initiative. The project focused on schools that needed to raise end-of-grade test scores, and this year, schools applied to join the program. Brad Shackelford, the principal at East Wake Middle School, believes the program will pay off in every class.

"Literacy is important for students to understand what's going on in the classroom in science, in social studies, and with math," he said. "So we're hoping it's going to be a positive impact schoolwide."

Poythress said she shows teachers how to use literacy skills in every subject.

"I go into science classes, I go into math classes, all the different classes, how do you add reading to your curriculum," she said. "Kids who read well can do well at science, math, anything."