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Feature
Reaching Out to Our Struggling Readers
by Nancy Padak and Brigette McConnell,
Kent State University
He was a junior. He sat in the back of the class, slouched in his
chair, fine blonde hair in his eyes. For the first month or so, he didn't engage.
He didn't even appear to be paying attention, although he never disrupted the class.
Then gradually, he perked up: began tentatively offering ideas in response to texts
we were reading, started reading for pleasure outside of class (car magazines, as
I recall), began interacting with other students and with me. He earned a B for
the second and third six weeks of the school year. I thought he would be a "success
story" in this urban high school reading class.
I can still remember the look on his face that dreary February
day when he brought his drop-out authorization form for me to sign. He looked defeated
and a little embarrassed. I was shocked. I asked him about the choice to drop out.
I reminded him how well he was doing in our class. I tried to encourage him to stay.
He said, "Yours is the only class I have ever passed at this high school. My
counselor says I'll never be able to graduate. I just can't take it anymore."
I signed the form and never saw him again.
That's a true story, from when Nancy taught high school reading many years ago.
She never saw him again, but she has never forgotten him. Although the rules for
who stays and who goes (and why) have changed over the years, problems with struggling
adolescent readers persist. We believe many factors may be to blame for this sad
situation―some out of teachers' hands (43-minute instructional periods come to mind).
But there are things we can do, and we have an obligation to try, to work individually
and especially together to find ways to reach out to struggling adolescent readers.
In this article, we will set a context for the "state" of adolescent literacy
in general, offer three suggestions for beginning this reaching-out process, and
recommend some resources for further learning.
Setting the Context
In 1997, the International Reading Association (IRA) created the Adolescent Literacy
Commission and charged it with, among other things, surveying research about effective
instruction for adolescents. The Commission's position statement elaborates upon
seven principles for supporting adolescents' literacy growth. According to the Commission,
adolescents deserve:
- Access to a wide variety of reading material that appeals to their
interests
- Instruction that builds the skill and desire to read increasingly
complex materials
- Assessment that shows their strengths as well as their needs
- Expert teachers who model and provide explicit instruction across
the curriculum
- Reading specialists who assist students having difficulty learning
how to read
- Teachers who understand the complexities of individual adolescent
readers
- Homes, communities, and a nation that supports the needs of adolescent
learners (Moore, Bean, Birdyshaw, & Rycik, 1999)
Some years later, the Carnegie Corporation commissioned a knowledge development
paper to offer research-based instructional recommendations for students in grades
4-12, particularly those in urban areas (Alvermann, Boyd, Brozo, Hinchman, Moore,
& Sturtevant, 2002). Alvermann et al. argue for a concept called "principled
practices," which they see as different from a "'one size fits all' model
of instruction" (p. 4). Their focus is on students and what research tells
us about the important competencies and behaviors exhibited by students in "literacy-supportive"
classrooms. These students:
- Engage with print and nonprint texts for a variety of purposes
- Generate and express rich understandings of ideas and concepts
- Demonstrate enthusiasm for reading and learning
- Assess their reading and learning competencies and direct their future
growth
- Participate in active learning environments that offer clear and facilitative
literacy instruction
- Connect reading with their life and their learning inside and outside
of school
- Develop critical perspectives toward what they read, view, and hear,
and
- Participate in respectful environments characterized by high expectations,
trust, and care. (p. 4)
The list of principled practices refers to students, and the Adolescent Literacy
Commission's list refers to instruction. The lists are complementary, however, and
we believe considering them together would be a great way for a teacher--or better
yet, a school community--to begin to explore issues related to meeting the needs
of struggling adolescent readers. One way to do this might involve making the statements
into questions and then gathering information to document answers. Such a process
may help either individuals or groups identify an area or two for improving the
educational experiences of struggling readers. Websites in the "Resources for
Further Learning" section below contain additional useful information about
these issues.
Reaching Out: Suggestions for Getting Started
No doubt lots of ideas come to mind when teachers think about making changes to
better meet the needs of struggling adolescents. And certainly research-based lists,
like the ones above, offer productive ways to begin planning. But too much change
at once is overwhelming and sets us up for failure. The suggestions we outline below
are our recommendations for where to begin.
Differentiate between "won't" and "can't."
Every time either of us talks with middle school or high school teachers, we hear
a recurring complaint: "They just won't read the books." We think the
verb won't may be wrong in that sentence, especially
when we think of struggling readers―it's not that they won't. Perhaps they can't.
Recently Nancy (Padak) and Tim Rasinski and others have been exploring this possibility
using simple assessments based on informal reading inventory procedures (Rasinski
& Padak, in press). For example, we assessed a large number of ninth graders
and found a moderately strong correlation between students' fluency and their performance
on standardized reading tests. Many students were excessively slow readers, although
their word identification was acceptable (Rasinski, Padak, McKeon, Krug-Wilfong,
Friedauer, & Heim, in press). Imagine how frustrating it must be to be one of
these very slow readers and to try to not only get through, but learn from, the
many pages of textbook reading assigned!
To begin with, then, we need to differentiate between won't
and can't. To do this, it's necessary to determine students'
general reading levels. We must then provide students with access to curriculum-based
materials that they can read. Both of these issues―assessment and the appropriateness
of instructional materials―seem critical for supporting struggling adolescent readers.
Often teachers have few materials available to them other than the textbook, which
may be well beyond some students' reading level. Many times teachers in the content
areas will ask what they can do to increase the reading level of those struggling
readers in their classrooms. Perhaps that question needs to be changed. What if
teachers instead ask how they might reduce the reading level of the required text―what
instructional strategies might they choose to provide scaffolding? What if the traditional
lesson format were inverted? Rather than assigning a textbook chapter, hoping that
students will (or will be able to) read it, and discussing it―or more often finally
resorting to lecturing on it because so many students haven't read it after all―what
if we put that discussion at the beginning? What if we open that information door
a crack for students with simple, yet highly effective, prereading strategies such
as KWL or an anticipation guide so they can step inside? What if we then guide their
walk during reading by explicitly teaching them ways to determine what's important,
to ask questions as they read, to realize when they are not understanding and what
to do when that happens? And what if we stick with them at the end of their walk
by providing after-reading strategies to teach them how to synthesize and apply
what we've helped them learn? Sure there will always be a few "won'ts"
in the crowd (that's another article), but this kind of support has the potential
to allow the "can'ts" into the literacy club.
Stop looking for quick fixes. Wouldn't it be great if
we could simply purchase appropriate instructional materials, if there were a program
for sale that would solve struggling readers' problems? But there isn't, and we
think it's time to stop tilting at that windmill, so to speak. Recently, for example,
several researchers have explored the impact of Accelerated Reader
(AR) to see if it might be the quick fix we all seek. Their research has included
an analysis of the studies listed on the AR website (Biggers, 2001), two studies
of the impact of AR on the reading habits and attitudes of middle-grade students
(Mallette, Henk, & Melnick, 2004; Pavonetti, Brimmer, & Cipielewski, 2003),
and an evaluation of AR from a curriculum perspective (Alvermann & Rush, 2004).
In all cases, these studies concluded that AR isn't the all-around solution many
schools hoped it would be. In fact, AR has little effect on the long-term motivation
to read.
So if there are no quick fixes (and we believe there are not), what then are we
to do? We suggest beginning with a search for materials students can read and want
to read. This might involve expanding the view of what counts as reading―Internet,
trade books, other nontextbook reading. It might also involve searching to find
alternatives to students' texts. One online resource for doing just that will soon
be available. With support from ODE, the Ohio Literacy Alliance has been working
with an online database of trade (library) books. Soon teachers in grades 6-12 will
be able to search the database using Ohio's social studies and science standards.
Watch for the launch of this project soon at http://literacy.kent.edu.
Don't forget the affective dimension. Aside from the
commonsense reason for attending to students' reading and learning attitudes, habits,
and motivations, research is beginning to show just how critical these aspects are
to student success. Some high schools in Ohio and across the nation are transforming
themselves into "small schools," and research about this process is beginning
to appear. A special section in the June 2004 issue of Phi Delta
Kappan, for example, describes several such efforts. Again and again
in these articles, the importance of knowing students as people is underscored.
Speaking to school leaders, for example, Copland and Boatright (2004) note, "Leaders
have a great deal of influence over the degree of personalization in a school. .
. . As Nel Noddings puts it, 'students will do things for people they like and trust'"
(p. 765). The mix of high academic expectations and strong social supports seems
to make a positive difference for students.
Affective issues are important in the classroom as well. John Guthrie (2004), a
leader in what is called "literacy engagement," has shown us how four
factors interact to promote student achievement: "motivational dispositions,
cognitive strategies, conceptual understanding, and social discourse" (p. 1).
The absence of any of these factors significantly lessens opportunities to learn.
The four operate in tandem and would provide a helpful framework for a teacher looking
to evaluate his or her instruction.
So that's "reaching out" in terms of understanding something about students
as readers, doing something with this information--finding alternative materials
and providing additional support for difficult required reading, for example--and
reaching out to students as people. Again, we believe that attention to any of these
issues, which are all embedded in the IRA and Carnegie statements above, would provide
a productive place for teachers to start thinking about struggling readers. These
readers need a Lorax in their lives―someone who knows and understands these important
issues and is willing to speak out for them as the Lorax did for the trees: "UNLESS
someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not"
(Geisel, 1971).
Resources for Further Learning
We close with a short but powerful list of websites, all active as of December 7,
2004. Each of these offers a wealth of additional research-based information, most
written directly to teachers, as well as links to other locations on the Internet
that address related issues
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http://www.readingonline.org
Mixing It Up in Middle School: Themed Booklists to Entice Struggling Adolescent Readers Resource Type: Professional Resource Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 6–8 Professional Commentary: This professional resource by Dana Grisham describes a school-university partnership aimed at "accelerating" the literacy development of struggling middle school readers. Teachers who participated in the project explored the uses of literature in the classroom and created themed booklists that would appeal to their sixth- and seventh-grade students, all of whom were reading at least two grade levels below their peers....
Twenty Online Resources on Reading with Comprehension and Engagement Resource Type: Professional Resource Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 6–12 Professional Commentary: This professional resource details a collection of twenty online resources to inform teachers about methods for helping students read for understanding, develop as strategic learners, and become engaged in their reading. Compiled by Bridget Dalton, one of the editors of Reading Online, these resources include theoretical and practical material from Reading Online and the website of the International Reading Association....
"At-Risk" Adolescents: Redefining Competence Through the Multiliteracies of Intermediality, Visual Arts, and Representation Resource Type: Professional Resource Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 9–12 Professional Commentary: In this professional development article, author David O'Brien posits a literacy where a variety of socially and culturally appropriate literacies (media and visual arts, amongst others) enables students to construct meaning. And by allowing students to employ a literacy beyond the traditional definition of print literacy where a singular skill or process is applied predominately in school-based settings and tasks, O'Brien concludes that we might help the "at-risk" learner, the struggling reader, to achieve success in literacy.This work on exploring multiliteracies as a way to reposition at-risk adolescents is the result of a 4-year study with high school students and two school-based colleagues at Jefferson High School in Lafayette, Indiana.... Career Fields: General Career Skills Projects: Standards First
Teaching Readers Who Struggle: A Pragmatic Middle School Framework Resource Type: Professional Resource Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 6–8 Professional Commentary: This professional development article details a pragmatic framework for reading instruction that focuses on struggling and proficient readers in early adolescence (11-14 years old). Grounded in extensive and key reading research, the framework presented here suggests a structure for balanced literacy instruction in the classroom.... Career Fields: Arts & Communication, Education & Training, General Career Skills Projects: Writing 6-12, Standards First
Contexts for Engagement and Motivation in Reading Resource Type: Professional Resource Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 5–12 Professional Commentary: This article summarizes the work published in the Handbook of Reading Research: Volume III (Guthrie & Wigfield, 2000) coauthored by Allan Wigfield and John T. Guthrie and an article on the development of concept-oriented reading instruction for Educational Psychology Review (Guthrie & Cox, in press)....
Fostering High Levels of Reading and Learning in Secondary Students: An Invited Commentary Resource Type: Professional Resource Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 9–12 Professional Commentary: In this professional resource, Michael Graves proposes the use of David Perkins' approach, Teaching for Understanding, as a strategy for helping student attain deeper, more critical levels of understanding. The Teaching for Understanding model advocates that students study fewer topics but spend considerably more time on those topics....
An Update on Reading in the Content Areas: Social Constructionist Dimensions Resource Type: Professional Resource Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 8–12 Professional Commentary: An article that both summarizes and comments on studies aimed at understanding sociocultural dimensions in teaching and learning, this professional resource draws attention to the need to foster critical media literacy with adolescents. Included, too, are links to websites where additional information on these issues can be found.... Career Fields: General Career Skills Projects: Standards First
- http://www.reading.org/resources/issues/focus_adolescent.html
IRA's website.
- http://www.ncte.org/collections/adolescentliteracy
NCTE's adolescent literacy collection.
- http://www.literacy.uconn.edu/adolit.htm
A portal to dozens of other excellent adolescent literacy sites; maintained by the
University of Connecticut.
- http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/centers/clic/
Content Literacy Information Consortium, an organized set of Internet links related
to "learning to read to learn"; maintained by the University of Virginia.
- http://knowledgeloom.org/adlit/index.jsp
The Knowledge Loom: Educators Sharing and Learning Together; spotlight on adolescent
literacy in the content areas.
Nancy Padak is a Distinguished Professor of Education at Kent State University,
where she directs the Reading and Writing Center and teaches graduate courses in
the area of literacy education. Her scholarly interests include family literacy
and working with struggling readers. She is a past CRA President and a former editor
of The Reading Teacher She currently edits the
Journal of Literacy Research She can be contacted
at npadak@literacy.kent.edu.
Brigette McConnell is a doctoral candidate and an instructor at Kent State University,
where she teaches undergraduate literacy courses in the Middle Childhood and Adolescent
& Young Adult programs.
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References
Alvermann, D., Boyd, F., Brozo, W., Hinchman, K., Moore, D., & Sturtevant, E.
(2002). Principled practices for a literate America: A
framework for literacy and learning in the upper grades. New York: Carnegie
Corporation.
Alvermann, D., & Rush, L. (2004). Literacy intervention programs at the middle
and high school levels. In T. Jetton & J. Dole (Eds.),
Adolescent literacy: Research and practice (pp. 210-227). New York: Guilford.
Biggers, D. (2001). The argument against Accelerated Reader.
Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 45, 72-75.
Copland, M., & Boatright, E. (2004). Leading small: Eight lessons for leaders
in transforming large comprehensive high schools. Phi Delta
Kappan, 85, 762-770.
Geisel, T. (1971). The lorax New York: Random
House.
Guthrie, J. (2004). Teaching for literacy engagement. Journal
of Literacy Research, 36, 1-30.
Mallette, M., Henk, W., & Melnick, S. (2004). The influence of
Accelerated Reader on the affective literacy orientations of intermediate
grade students. Journal of Literacy Research, 36,
73-84.
Moore, D., Bean, T., Birdyshaw, D., & Rycik, J. (1999). Adolescent literacy,
a position statement for the Commission on Adolescent Literacy of the International
Reading Association. Retrieved October 12, 2004, from http://www.reading.org/pdf/1036.pdf.
Pavonetti, L., Brimmer, K., & Cipielewski, J. (2003).
Accelerated Reader: What are the lasting effects on the reading habits
of middle school students exposed to Accelerated Reader
in elementary grades? Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy,
46, 300-311.
Rasinski, T., & Padak, N. (In press). Three-minute
assessments. New York: Scholastic.
Rasinski, T., Padak, N., McKeon, C., Krug-Wilfong, L., Friedauer, J., & Heim,
P. (In press). Is reading fluency a key for successful high school reading? Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy.
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