Dear Educator,
If you struggle to support your middle school students who cannot access on-grade level texts, you are not alone.
Currently in the United States, 30 percent of Grade 8 students score below a basic reading level, and 69 percent score below grade-level proficiency (National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2022).
The ripple effect is grim, and you see it every day. Your middle school students with reading difficulties experience challenges across all academic areas, because curriculum at this level relies more heavily on independent reading skills. These students are at risk for falling further and further behind.
The good news is this is a problem you can solve. The recent emphasis on well-researched work on the Science of Reading is the perfect catalyst to spark the change that the right intervention can create for each one of your striving readers.
You’ve likely heard the buzz that seems to focus the Science of Reading on younger students. But this same reading science brings a wealth of proven tactics to support your middle school learners.
In this guide, we’ll discuss what the research tells us about delivering meaningful reading instruction for our middle school students, including the high-leverage practices that will make the most impact in the shortest amount of time. You’ll walk away with new ideas for providing targeted reading intervention and, hopefully, renewed confidence that you can make a life-altering difference in these students’ lives.
Let’s begin.
—The i-Ready Literacy Team
