Does the science of reading include middle school?

I teach students with disabilities in high school that read under a third grade level, some as low as kindergarten. Everything I have tried has been unsuccessful in engaging them and helping them to work independently. I don’t know exactly where to begin to help them. I know they don’t decode and because of this they can’t be expected to comprehend the material. When I read aloud, they lose focus. They are just so checked out of school. Where do I begin? I don’t want them embarrassed because then behavior becomes an issue to save face. Any ideas?

I’ve been teaching for the past 3-1/2 years in a reading intervention program affiliated with a local nonprofit. For our older kids (grades 4-up), we’re finding the Words Their Way program (Bear, et. al.) to be very effective. Kids work on increasingly challenging word sorts, that help them focus on “patterns” (the term I use with the kids), e.g., /au/, /ea/, /oi/). The diagnostic WTW spelling inventories (primary, intermediate/elementary, upper grades), provide information about what kids know about words, what they use but confuse, and what they don’t know. In our 45 minute lessons, we spend 15 minutes on word work, and then move to reading texts, alternating expository with fiction, writing summaries, etc. A card game that all the kids enjoy is Blah Blah Blah, which includes a variety of words with vowel combinations (“patterns”). It’s a fun way to practice the patterns they’re learning. Granted, we’re teaching one-on-one, but WTW works well in any classroom with partners and small groups. Are we teaching phonics? Yes, but we’re doing so through spelling and reading. Thanks, Tim, for your blog about the older kids!

“ I’ve long argued for 25% of the language arts time to be devoted to developing knowledge of words and how they work.”

Do you break down the other 75% anywhere?

I wish the title of this post was different, as we know that the Science of Reading is more than just phonics, and this article seems to be directed at phonics instruction in grades higher than 2nd.

Great reminder that decoding is at the center of k-1 and I would argue 2nd grade included. But once decoding is solid word knowledge instruction should look different (e.g. vocabulary and morphology).

Thanks ffor the question, Ed. After word work, our students read and write for about 20 minutes, and then we play a game for the remaining time (Blah, Blah, Blah; Splat!; Bingo---and other games I've created in file folders). I forgot to mention Word Ladders (Dr. Tim Rasinski's series of books). We alternate the word sorts and word ladders for students who have two 45-minute lessons/week. Most of the kids LOVE the word ladders (K-1; 2-3, 4-6) -- they're exposed to new vocabulary while they're solving the word ladder.

Ed-

Yes, I've written about this a number of times... 1/4 words, 1/4 text fluency, 1/4 comprehension, and 1/4 writing.


tim

Shari - unless you can solve the decoding problem, the research says there is little likelihood of success. Don Deshler once told me that his colleagues found it took about 2 years of intensive painstaking work on that to solve the problem using various programs (individual and small group). There are programs like System 44 that Marilyn Adams touts which may help. But, again, none of these solutions has been proven by research to successfully address the problem.

tim

David-
There are many things that teachers can do to address comprehension: vocabulary instruction, sentence comprehension instruction, text structure instruction, cohesion instruction, comprehension strategy teaching and there are blog entries on this site on each of those topics. It also can help to have kids writing about what they read.
tim

Katie-

I don't know the program and know of no research on it. However, I would encourage you to find time for those fluency lessons as well.

tim

Have you looked into the research on Structured Word Inquiry? It leverages the strengths of intermediate students who struggle with the code in ways I've never seen before, and student engagement is sky high. It channels them to make sense of how words are constructed and weaves together morphology, phonology, and orthography in powerful, time-saving ways. I wish I'd known about it sooner.

Bowers, P. N., Kirby, J. R., & Deacon, S. H. (2010). The Effects of Morphological Instruction on Literacy Skills: A Systematic Review of the Literature. Review of Educational Research, 80(2), 144–179. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654309359353

Jo Anne--
Perhaps you are correct, but there is no research showing that.

tim

We are currently using REWARDS Intermediate for 6th graders and REWARDS Secondary for 7th-8th graders at the middle school where I work. What are your thoughts on REWARDS as an intervention for older students who struggle with decoding multi-syllabic words?

I've had success working one-on-one with older students with disabilities. One girl was in high school, but had been stuck in a special ed program where they didn't expect much. I don't know what they attempted to teach her, but at 15 she was reading at a 5th grade level - barely. I didn't want to go back to systematic phonics, so I tried to tackle her difficulties in the context of her reading assignments for classes. I had her read aloud, and of course there was a lot of guessing based on the beginning of the word. I would stop her and show her how to break down the syllables and sound them out one at a time. An added benefit was that she learned to spell this way at the same time. By graduation, she was reading at a 9th/10th level according to tests. I didn't specifically evaluate comprehension, but I found no major problems when she answered the assigned questions about her reading. When there was an issue, it was more about vocabulary knowledge than sounding out. If she asked about the word meanings or just happened to know them, her comprehension seemed fine. This is one example, but it's the general approach I take with older students.

Sara--

I would suggest that you go to the What Works Clearinghouse site and examine their research summaries for various commercial intervention programs.

tim

Diann--

I've written about SWI before and as this blog entry points out, I think that such instruction is valuable... but to what extent it solves these older students' decoding problems is an open question. (The review that you point out, shows learning benefits from morphology instruction -- not necessarily SWI -- and it shows that it can improve reading beyond what phonics instruction provides, at least with younger children).

tim

A number of years ago, as a Reading First consultant, I assessed the oral reading fluency of two classes of third graders. A number of students had very slow reading rates. Many of these slow readers needed extra time to process multisyllabic words. What appeared to be a fluency issue was actually a decoding deficiency. They needed instruction in syllabic analysis and lots of practice.

I think that the older the student the more you have to identify the unique individual gaps for that student. I was once reading a book about snakes with a 5th grade student who had no difficulty with the word reptilian but could not decode the word sacs. I'm not kidding. That student really made me take a close look at how we address individual needs which is what it is all about for struggling older readers, in my opinion. Unfortunately what is often needed is targeted and intense one on one instruction that public schools simply do not have the manpower to provide. If these students were going to progress satisfactorily in a small group they would have before middle or high school. Now that I am retired I have literally been astounded by the results I am getting with my private tutoring students from grade 1 through adult. Did I suddenly become a way better teacher? I don't think so. And mind you I only see most students once or twice a week! The difference is I am not constrained by having to have 3-5 students in every group nor by requirements of mandated intervention programs. With respect to all my colleagues, I know teaching struggling readers is not simple or easy, but I meet individual needs one on one and have surprised myself with incredible results. Often it's that simple.

Your words make sense for what I have seen in classrooms grade 4 and up. In particular I was practically crucified for teaching silent e to a group of 4th graders. The assessment data told me they didn’t know the concept.

I have lots of proof phonics/word study/vocabulary/spelling should be taught to all readers. My data also shows its effectiveness with gifted learners as well

Tom--
That is an important point about reading. The skills are nested and hierarchical. Students may seem to have trouble comprehending, but it could be a fluency problem. Students might seem disfluent, but this may be due to decoding issues. Decoding may be showing up as a problem, while languishing phonemic awareness is undermining it. That's why it is so important that we provide comprehensive instruction -- devoting some instructional time to all of the components at a given point in development.

tim

What is the level of decoding proficiency older students need in order to improve in reading? Where can I learn more about the decoding threshold you mentioned?

Rachel--
This link will take you to what I have written about that and the references for that research which was carried at ETS:

https://www.shanahanonliteracy.com/blog/decoding-or-fluency-instruction-in-middle-school

and here is a link to the test they used:

https://www.captivoice.com/capti-site/public/entry/readbasix

tim

Whew, I don't know. I've had plenty of success teaching older kids to read and even spell quite well using what I guess is called "systematic phonics." (Barton.) It seems to take more time, is all--they have developed habits that need to be replaced.

I know it's anecdotal, but it's pretty consistent data within my own little system.

Tim, I worked with almost 200 struggling readers one-on-one over a decade, teaching them to decode. Most were in 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade. Here's one issue that came up with about 15 to 20% of the kids, the word "minus."
Now, they should all have had "minus" in their oral vocabulary by then, but here's a fairly common exchange when they hit the word "minus" (in isolation, not in text):
Child: "minutes"
Me (pointing to the last half of the word): You said "minutes." You put a /t/ sound in here. Try again.
Same child: "menace"
Me (pointing to the letter "i") You said "menace." This is not the /e/ sound.
Me again: What's the first chunk?
Child: "mi" (with short "i")
Me: What's the second chunk?
Child: "nus" (pronounced correctly)
Me: put it together.
Child: "mi-nus" (with short "i")
Me: Is "mi-nus" a word?
Child: No.
Me (pointing to the "i"): What else can this be?
Child: /ie/ (says the long "i" sound)
Me: Say both chunks
Child: "mi---nus" (all sounds said correctly)
Me: Put it together
Child: "minutes"

There might not be research supporting phonics instruction for older kids, but the kids I worked with usually needed it, along with an effective way to attack multisyllable words. By the way, I suspect a lot of this sort of behavior was evidence of balanced literacy casualties. Once a guess gets embedded, it can be difficult to dislodge.
Eventually, they would develop enough confidence in the multisyllable method I was teaching them to curtail their guessing in favor of trying to decode words chunk by chunk, but they also needed a good grasp of the phonics code to do that.

Tim

Could it be possible that we should call phonics for older kids something different? Once students progress from cvc and cvce styles words syllabication and morphology are the natural next steps.
I personally have used REWARDS, Wexler’s Advanced Phonics and Word study and a few others. But this was only after diagnosis of student’s needs based on age and stage of word knowledge.

Terminology may be the crux of our issue with the progression of students learning to read.

We need more of these conversations Prof Shanahan!

I wonder if volume & lang comp is where we should be focusing on for middle/high school classroom ELA instruction.

My experience is entirely anecdotal and far from the most scientific of conditions, but would love to hear your & other folks' thoughts.

Only a few of my 7/8 graders had problems with 'the rules' they learned in primary, even with 80-90%+ underperforming on state assessments & screenings.

The most common problems were found in the irregular spellings & 3+ syllables.

And, most notably, the 10-20% at proficiency & passing state assessments almost always had a pleasure reading habit.

That single reading habit trait was the best predictor of reading achievement I saw in over a decade of ELA classroom experience in a high poverty school (Title I, 90%+ FRL).

Also, most of my classes had a small majority of students who shared the same teachers since early primary.

So, presumably, this group shared the same reading instruction.

But the pleasure reading kiddos achieved much higher than their non-habit peers.

Thank you, Dr. Shanahan! Anita Archer actually commented on this post as well, and she is the lead author of the REWARDS curriculum. It is really unique in its integration of morphology and phonics with grade-level vocabulary.

Yes, we want to get to the fluency... but we are never given enough time. I do use some cloze and choral reading in the classroom. I need to do more!

It is funny how our beliefs about instruction at various levels shifts as we gain years in education. You mentioned 25% of 6-12 ELA class instruction be devoted to words (i.e. vocabulary, morphology etc.) I would love to hear your opinion on how to best spend the other 75%. We are currently having deep conversations about our instructional time in our district in our ELA department. Our state has moved to the SAT as it's graduation qualifying exam. Grammar is killing our student scores. We know we don't want to go back to the 80s and diagramming sentences to death, but we feel we need to somehow address our shortfalls to give our students a better chance at success. Teaching grammar and mechanics in isolation has little to no research to support its effectiveness that I have found, so what is the answer? How much time do we devote to grammar in 6-12? What about 3-5? We know K-2 is all about getting to a complete sentence, and eventually grouping like sentences/thoughts together to add detail.

I highly recommend following the guidance issued in the IES (Institute Education Science) Practice Guide, Providing Reading Interventions for Students in Grades 4–9. The first evidence-based recommendation is to "Build students' decoding skills so they can read complex multisyllabic words" including teaching unknown phoneme-graphemes, high frequency affixes, and a strategy for systematically decoding multisyllabic words.

Cherilyn--
The test was ETS's Reading Basix and it is now available from a company called CAPTi.

tim

Chris--
Middle school and high school should focus on (1) words (including vocabulary and morphology -- and, for some kids, spelling and phonics; (2) text reading fluency -- this tends to be ignored in the upper grades despite large numbers of kids who are unable to translate text to oral language proficiently; (3) reading comprehension and learning from text, including disciplinary literacy insights and approaches; and (4) writing. Of course, students also should be increasing their domain knowledge (including knowledge from our literary heritage), both through these acts of literacy, but also from the other activities they are engaged in throughout their curriculum.

tim

Dr. Shanahan,

Could you explain further what that decoding threshold is and how teachers best identify it? For context, I work with middle school students who receive reading intervention services.

John--

The threshold was identified in some studies conducted by a team of researchers at ETS. The test they used to identify it was something that is now called ETS ReadingBasix and it is marketed by a company called CAPTI.

tim

Thank you for this thoughtful explication.

As a speech-language pathologist long-specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of challenged learners, I still use a classic Orton-Gillingham based series, Explode the Code, meeting each kid where they need learn speech-to-print/print-to-speech concepts. But, it is not about just doing the words on the page! Learning concepts such as onset and rime, highlighting them across words, seeing similarities between words, particularly the rime scheme, focusing on morphological markers and importantly, learning to write legibly in cursive to build fluency, are hallmarks of my approach. Strategies for active reading are emphasizied to improve reading for meaning.

As older kids gain traction in these practicies, a workbook series on Classical Roots is incorporated into each one-to-one session so that cross-linguistic knowledge is built along with learning spelling patterns that represent not only a spelling cluster but meaning is emphasized to build word recognition and the vocabulary necessary for higher-order thinking and writing. With older kids -- 4th grade and above -- who have been taught, e.g., with whole language approaches and who have not received meaningful speech-language intervention as part of the language acquisition/reading acquisition process, the intervention requires time! No screens are utilized so that we are tracking left-to-right across words -- syllables, morphological markers -- and practicing as well, paralinguistic cueing -- breath groups, intonation -- to build comprehension and grammar knowledge as well. Phonics underlies the work, again, always integrated with legible handwriting.

A novel is typically part of intervention as well so that these skills can be integrated into reading high-quality literature to evoke appreciation of narrative components and critical thinking. This is not a quick fix, but it is an indelible one as students report they feel more confident so that even if they make mistakes, they can self-correct them.

Jen--
Likewise, I would invest 25% of the time into text reading fluency, 25% into comprehending/learning from text, and 25% into writing. The only one of these four components that can shrink is the fluency one (and, then, only if your students can demonstrate adequate fluency with your grade level texts). In secondary, this time needs to be pieced together with contributions from all of the academic courses the student is enrolled in. In other words, I dont care if much of the morphology time is accomplished in the science class or much of the fluency work is done in social studies...

tim
tim

Thank you for addressing this important topic. I enjoyed working with grades 5 and 6 students who struggled with reading for many years. Addressing decoding deficits through both phonics and morphology (simultaneously building both decoding and encoding skills) was very importance to improve the students’ confidence, fluency, and comprehension.

What is the “level of decoding proficiency” or “decoding threshold” to which you refer? Can you be more specific? Are there specific assessment(s) you recommend to determine this proficiency level?

This is interesting. I am wondering, though, exactly what the "threshold" is? Where exactly in the scope and sequence is "enough"?

Jody--
That threshold in the research was a cut point on a specific test (ETS's Reading Basix). Other research is finding the same pattern with some other tests.... Enough is when kids get beyond that threshold of performance.

tim

I work at a middle school where we designate an intervention block and teach small targeted groups of struggling decoders using the SIPPS curriculum. This has been an exceptionally effective intervention and nearly every student who has received it has reached at 3rd grade level by the end of the intervention (from a starting point of K-2). I highly recommend it for folks in similar contexts. Students who don’t need the intervention take electives during this time.

Katie-I have used rewards and have seen big gains in vocabulary. And students also get better in being able to break words into parts and read them. Many of my students have seen gains from this, but I also have some low readers who seems to be benefiting but then the next year, I don't see them applying those decoding strategies. And I don't see comprehension moving much. I believe it has to do with the threshold concept they discuss in this article. But, I do love Rewards and so do my students.