Reading is a high focus area in elementary school, but reading comprehension instruction tends to drop off once students reach upper elementary and middle school grades. Content educators would agree, however, that many students fail to have the reading skills to successfully understand their math, social studies, and other content area textbooks as they progress in higher grades and more challenging courses. Reading ability is a key predictor of achievement in mathematics and science, and the global information economy requires today’s American youth to have far more advanced literacy skills than those required of any previous generation.
The National Center for Education Science, Institute of Education Science (IES), created a report titled Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and Intervention Practices. This study highlights findings from research-based strategies to improve adolescent literacy. There are four recommended practices:
- Provide explicit vocabulary instruction and strategies to help students become independent vocabulary learners.
- Provide direct and explicit comprehension strategy instruction.
- Provide opportunities for extended text discussion and student engagement.
- Provide intensive intervention for struggling readers and monitor all students' reading progress.
To acquire the skills they need, students must work hard to refine and build upon their initial reading skills. Students in upper elementary grades and in middle and high school classes need help to acquire more advanced skills, especially those related to content area learning
Pepper has recently released a new Pepper Online Workshop (POW) based on the IES report described above. In this workshop, we focus on the fourth recommended practice of providing intensive intervention for struggling readers and monitoring all students’ reading progress. The POW, titled “Interventions for Struggling Readers”, focuses on exploring what adolescent literacy looks like and how content teachers can build comprehension instruction into their existing teaching. The workshop also explores how teachers determine students’ skill levels so they can help pinpoint students that need additional assistance. While schoolwide teacher collaboration across content areas is essential for improving outcomes for struggling readers, in many situations adolescents that struggle with reading need qualified specialists to provide intensive and individualized interventions. If you are interested in learning more about reaching the needs of struggling adolescent readers, be sure to check out our new POW, Interventions for Struggling Readers.
Pepper provides a wide range of courses for teachers that allow for growth and learning opportunities. You also have access to Pepper's online learning community where you can meet others who are teaching and learning about adolescent literacy.
