Taking Another Look at Struggling Adolescent Readers

Abstract

D uring our time teaching secondary Eng­ lish language arts, we often came across research and programs regarding how to help struggling young readers in elementa­ ry school (grades 1-5), but studies of read­ ing intervention beyond fifth grade were limited. This is still a concern for us because of evidence that shows that secondary students struggle with reading. For example, a review of the 2005 ACT scores shows that only 51 % of secondary students were prepared for college level read­ ing (Lewis & Reader, 2009). Similarly, the National As­ sessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores show that 29% of eighth graders scored below basic in reading, and another 42% scored at the basic level. In other words, 71 % of students entered ninth grade reading below grade level, or likely to struggle to understand the texts given to them in order to complete class assignments (Plaut, 2009). Many struggling readers in middle and high school are not able to read, write, listen, speak, and think at the levels needed to be successful college students, members of the workforce, and fully participating citizens (Plaut, 2009). In the last 10 years, state and federal funding for middle and high school reading programs has decreased, and funding for research on literacy and language of ado­ lescents is minimal (Moore, Bean, Birdyshaw, & Rycik, 1999). Considering this fact and the fact that few inter­ ventions have studies measuring their effectiveness, struggling adolescent readers, who are not identified for special education, may receive inadequate literacy in­ struction, especially given the lack of reading special­ ists in schools beyond third grade (Conley, Friedhoff, Sherry, & Tuckey, 2008). Donna Alverrnann (200 I) notes that adolescents and their specialized needs for literacy instruction often go unnoticed by policymakers and the general public because most attention is placed on emerg­ ing readers. After talking with teachers and reading recent studies and practitioner guides, we know that teachers, curriculum directors, and principals in middle schools and high schools are working toward helping their strug­ gling readers. However, studies still show that adoles­ cents' literacy skills are not "keeping pace with societal demands of living in an information age that changes rap­ idly and shows no sign of slowing" (Alverrnann, 2001). So what can be done to help these struggling adoles­ cent readers? The first challenge is to identify them. Be­ yond high stakes testing, it is sometimes difficult to iden­ tify a struggling reader. Researchers have suggested that struggling readers may avoid