DESCRIPTORS: teaching reading, reading intervention, Response to Intervention, RtI, differentiated instruction, grades 4-8.
SYNOPSIS: This article discusses the differentiated instructional approach to teaching older children how to read. While reading normally occurs for children in first grade, there are growing numbers of children with reading difficulties that can be taught reading using appropriate planning, curriculum and staff.

Helping Older Students Become Fluent Readers:
A Response to Intervention

In educational circles there is a saying that children “learn to read” in K-3, and after that they “read to learn.” Unfortunately for many children such as those from impoverished or English Language learning backgrounds, this is not the case. Children who are reading below grade level in the upper elementary grades (4th and 5th grade) and middle school (grades 6th, 7th and 8th) often have a difficult time in school. The phonological weaknesses of children with the most common form of reading disability require that they receive reading instruction that is phonemically explicit and systematic. When older children lack the grade level reading skills it is difficult for them to catch up to their peers. In grades 4–8, reading expectations change to applying sight-word and decoding skills, gained in earlier grades, to content-area information. Many older children, however, need more practice with basic decoding skills as well as continued emphasis on comprehension of what they are reading.

Teachers can track who is at risk for reading failure as early as Kindergarten and first grade. There are indicators such as DIBELS out of the University of Oregon,2 that show teachers which children are at risk of reading failure, and help teachers plan for intensive intervention instruction in basic reading skills. If early reading intervention does not take place, however, this becomes problematic for teachers of older students because their grade level expectations are, the children are able to read.

Although many upper elementary and middle school teachers often do not have time to teach intervention reading skills, there are ways to incorporate these strategies into the day for students.3 With planning and careful assessment, teachers can address reading deficiencies for older students using and skills designed to help older students who are below grade level in their reading.4 One method is a school wide focus using the muli-tiered Response to Intervention or RtI.5 Teaching all students in this way requires a school-wide system to identify ‘at risk” students and to provide them with additional instruction to become proficient readers.6

Response to Intervention (RtI)

The RtI is a school-wide, multi-level instructional and behavioral system for preventing school failure that includes screening, progress monitoring, and data based decision making for instruction. It requires a school wide effort because it includes scheduling, careful planning of instruction, and teacher collaboration. The first level of intervention, Tier One, is the general education program, the first time teaching, including a thirty-minute daily workshop time. During workshop the teacher will pre-teach and /or reteach the lessons for that day. The second level, Tier Two, involves a more intensive, relatively short-term interventions with the classroom teacher or with a reading specialist who works with students in a small group. The third level of intervention, Tier Three, is a long-term intervention program that leads to other testing or special education services (Tier Four).

Most public school districts use research tested and standards based curriculum that includes materials for teachers to use during intervention time. These materials are labeled “intervention,” “reteach,” or “pre-teach” for students. There are also strategies and skills that older students can utilize such as increasing their vocabulary and comprehension ability. An excellent web site with free materials is offered by the Florida Center for Reading Research7. It utilizes literacy skills based on games which students play independently or with others to improve their reading abilities.

Second Language Learners often have low reading scores and additional time needed to practice English. English Language Learners should be included in the RtI plan to give them plenty of opportunities to practice English. One helpful strategy is to preteach or “frontload” the language structures and vocabulary for books and to give students comprehension strategies to help them understand what they are reading.

A typical lower reading older student’s day begins with a ten-minute small group instruction preteaching the lesson. Next, the whole class participates in grade level English Language Arts instruction. Students spend the morning with their grade level in instruction, and in the late morning are taught additional and basic skills by a reading specialist. Small groups should consist of three to no more than eight students, and can vary by the frequency of the meetings and the curricular focus. The instruction should focus on phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, or comprehension. An excellent intervention program for older students who have basic reading skills is the SIPPS (Systematic Instruction in Phoneme Awareness, Phonics, and Sight Words) program.8  SIPPS is a decoding curriculum that teaches the prerequisites for developing reading fluency and comprehension. The final component is regular progress monitoring and assessment of instruction to help teachers plan and provide an idea of how students are progressing. All of these components will help older students to improve their reading skills.

By careful monitoring and focused instruction, older students are able to improve their reading ability. It takes the collaborative effort of a school wide team but well worth the effort.