Supporting Struggling Readers in Middle School

This week we’re turning our attention to middle school, and how we can help those students who might be having a hard time keeping up with the demands of classwork because of underlying reading difficulties.

What makes middle school uniquely challenging? It’s a time when academic expectations are suddenly higher, with different teachers for each subject area, while at the same time there’s less of a focus on teaching the foundational skills that some students may not yet have mastered. Middle school teachers, who may not have received any training in the teaching of foundational skills, are suddenly faced with the challenge of teaching their students phonics.

Where to start?

First, we recommend using a fluency measure to see how fluently students are reading. Two options are NWEA's MAP Reading Fluency (a computerized measure which can be purchased by your district) or DIBELS ORF (which can be downloaded for free and administered by the teacher). Both assess a student's reading rate (how quickly they read) and accuracy (how many words they read correctly). We recommend adding a fluency rubric to your process, as well, to evaluate prosody (here's one we like!).

For students who are below the 50th percentile on WCPM, you can administer a decoding diagnostic such as the CORE Phonics Survey to find more information about their learning gaps. Once you’ve identified the specific needs of your students, you can move on to targeted interventions using resources such as those available from your school's reading intervention program or those on the Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) website. Under the “FCRR Student Center Activities” tab, you’ll find a variety of lessons that focus on advanced phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

Do you have any success stories from working with middle school readers?

We’d love to hear from you!