Supporting Struggling Readers is Essential
Students in schools in the United States have been struggling in reading for a decade, but it is most evident post-pandemic. The deficits have been significantly highlighted through data and media. Sadly, children across the country continue to be passed on to the next grade level while reading below grade level. Research shows that children who are not reading on grade level by the end of third or fourth grade often struggle throughout their entire school career and often drop out of school. Supporting struggling readers as soon as they are identified is essential to ensure this does not continue.
Elementary school teachers must be equipped with the tools and techniques to use the research behind the science of reading to support all students, especially struggling readers. Teacher training, professional learning opportunities, and support for educators are essential in supporting all readers in every grade level. Every school should have a full-time reading specialist, interventionists, or reading tutors. It is qualified instructors, not programs, that truly help struggling readers thrive in literacy.
Reading Strategies for Struggling Readers
Motivation and engagement are essential factors in how to help struggling readers. Hooking a child to get a struggling reader excited about reading and matching them with the perfect book is just the first step. Direct instruction that includes the implementation of the five pillars of reading plus writing makes the most significant difference and greatest impact in supporting struggling readers.
The most common reason a child struggles in reading is because they have a lack of knowledge and understanding in either phonological awareness or the developmental phonics system. When teachers create literacy lessons emphasizing letter-sound relationships and phonemes in reading and writing, they are enabling struggling readers to become independent readers.
Early intervention is key. Data shows that children who struggle with phonological awareness in kindergarten and receive no intervention are usually still struggling in second and third grade. Fluency is also an essential strategy for supporting struggling readers. Rereading poems, decodable texts, and predictable texts effectively teaches this component. Even if a student is identified as a struggling reader, it is important to support their vocabulary development and comprehension of text by exploring their background knowledge and experiences as it relates to the texts.
Reading Strategies for Struggling Younger Students
It is important to note that reading is a developmental journey for each child, so the best and most effective reading strategies are not determined by the age of a student but by the reading competency level based on a variety of literacy assessments. For example, a middle school student who has just arrived in America or labeled as an English Language Learner would benefit from the same strategies often used for younger students.
For a five to seven-year-old child, however, who is on the designated correct developmental path of literacy instruction, the foundations of reading are critical for young readers. These are the basic language skills that focus on phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and phonics.
It is important to provide students with direct instruction through both small group and whole group experiences on how oral language connects to the printed word and how reading correlates with writing. Using word sorts and analogy charts based on sounds, decodable texts, and Elkonin boxes daily will increase a young reader’s literacy success. Students should be able to identify the similarities and differences between words. They should be able to decode, encode, and talk about text. Once a child has the capability to decode and encode on their own, they will be successful in figuring out any multisyllabic word they encounter.
Reading Strategies for Struggling Older Students
We know that older students who are struggling in reading greatly benefit from the phonics work we emphasis with younger students. This gap in letter-sound relationships and encoding and decoding are often the main reasons they struggle. Older students should focus on putting together, taking apart, reading, and writing multisyllabic words. Another reason older students struggle is because of fluency, specifically in their number of words per minute. This is when reader’s theater, rereading of text, and timed reading helps increase fluency rates.
Lastly, comprehension is often the one pillar of reading that makes reading a struggle for older students. Using graphic organizers and visualization to understand text sections in fiction and nonfiction helps students to better comprehend. Research often links strong fluency to strong comprehension, but there are always exceptions when it comes to individual students reading behaviors. When we address both in tandem and separately according to the provided literacy data, we are providing the best reading instruction for older students.
When we implement effective reading strategies as soon as children enter school, we will help all children become successful rather than struggling readers across America.
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