Spotting Reading Difficulties: Early Indicators for Middle and High School Educators

The Urgent Need to Support Older Readers

Reading proficiency is essential to a student’s academic success in the middle and high school grade levels where complex text is introduced across subjects such as science, social studies, and even math. 

Imagine it is the first day of 8th grade, and a student opens their textbook to this:

DIRECTIONS: The inform______ below relates to the his______ de_____ment of West Afr____.

READ THE PASSAGE: One of the main as____ of the de______ment of the West Africa_ king____ was the e________ of cities.  The first city, K___ S___, grew on the edge of the Sa______ where the King_____ of G____ de________ed around it.  Fur___ in_____d, three bus__ing  cent____ e_____ed along the N____ River: D____, TIm_____, and G__.  These cities were the ma____ s____s of trading act____ in the M____n Em_____. G____ e_____ broke from a de_____ing M_____ and cr____ed the S________ Em_______.

ANSWER THE QUESTION: Which con____ is sup____ed  by the in____ and your kn_____ of West Afr____?

1. Out_____ in______ caused cities to de____.
2. Ex______ of re_____s forced cities to change.
3. Trading centers pro_____ re______ de_____ment.
4. Con____s among cities hin_____ cul____ ad_______.

This is an example of a student reading at the spelling pattern phase.

A student who has not mastered the foundations of reading skills will most likely be deterred from learning. They may resort to other measures to complete (or not complete) their assignments without fully comprehending the topic at hand.

As a former middle school teacher, I know firsthand that my colleagues and I often didn’t possess a deep understanding of the foundational reading skills that students are expected to master in elementary school — the skills that provide the necessary support for reading comprehension in later grades.

Determining the Root Cause of Reading Comprehension Struggles

When supporting a striving older reader, it is important to consider what exactly is impeding comprehension. There are several distinct possibilities. We must consider the following:

• Is it that the student doesn’t understand the text?

• Or is it that the student can’t decode/read the longer words accurately and fluently?

• Or is it both—a combination of linguistic comprehension and polysyllabic decoding deficits?

Determining the root cause of a student’s struggles with reading comprehension is important because it will pinpoint the necessary intervention.

For example, if the student has a decoding issue, they will require decoding support. Whereas if the student struggles with linguistic comprehension, they’ll need a different type of intervention altogether.

Of course, if the older reader struggles with both, then multiple supports may be required.

By addressing reading difficulties as soon as they are noticed, educators can mitigate the risk of long-term academic struggles and reduce the likelihood of students developing negative attitudes towards school.

By addressing reading difficulties as soon as they are noticed, educators can mitigate the risk of long-term academic struggles and reduce the likelihood of students developing negative attitudes towards school.

Indicators That a Student Is Struggling to Read

In the middle and high school grade levels, identifying gaps in foundational skills knowledge can be challenging, especially if students do not read aloud. 

Here are some signs that might indicate a gap in reading skills:

Frequent Misunderstandings and Requests for Clarification

If a student often has difficulty understanding and following written instructions without asking for clarification from the teacher or a classmate, it may indicate they are having difficulty with comprehension.

However, if the child understands spoken instructions without difficulty and only struggles with written instructions, then the underlying problem is most likely a decoding issue.

Avoidance of Reading Tasks and Difficulty with Complex Texts

Another piece of observational data that may indicate a student needs additional reading support is watching to see if the student frequently avoids reading assignments or relies on summaries rather than engaging with the text directly. While work avoidance could be due to other factors, paying attention to observational data such as this can help create a clearer picture of the student over time.

Conferring with your team of teachers can help you identify if a student has significant trouble understanding and analyzing complex texts, often missing the nuanced arguments or themes.

During my time as a middle school teacher, my team had weekly morning meetings during which we would each bring a small list of students we had concerns about. More often than not if a student was having difficulty with complex texts in my classroom, it was likely teachers saw it in other classes as well.

Slow Reading Pace

While everyone reads at a slightly different pace, if you note that a student takes significantly longer to complete a reading assignment compared to the majority of their peers it could be an indicator of slow reading fluency.

It may be helpful to administer a fluency assessment if you suspect a child’s reading rate is so slow as to affect comprehension.

Performance on Reading Comprehension Tests

We had weekly practice standardized reading assessments while I was a middle school teacher. The data received helped identify students in need of intensive intervention. 

In many experiences I found that teachers, especially those whose discipline was not reading or language arts, weren’t able to connect the dots that the root cause of poor reading comprehension scores often was lagging foundational skills. This was especially true for our multilingual learners (MLs) who had mastered conversational English but were struggling with more nuanced academic language because they had not learned how to decode words.

Noticing these behaviors is just the first step; it is critical to look closer as to what may be causing the student’s struggle.

Noticing these behaviors is just the first step; it is critical to look closer as to what may be causing the student’s struggle. This is where administering assessments like a word-reading measure or oral fluency test can help narrow down where the student most needs intervention support.

Limited Vocabulary Use

The use of limited vocabulary in a students’ written work is another challenge often seen in multilingual learners but also students who’ve had limited exposure to a wide range of words through reading.

As texts become more complex in upper grades, a lack of foundational skills instruction may have left these students struggling to develop vocabulary knowledge. 

Developing vocabulary knowledge is critical to gaining background knowledge necessary for more complex texts. 

Difficulty Summarizing Texts and Making Inferences

Conferring with colleagues who support the same student may also bring to light if they have difficulty making inferences from texts, indicating trouble reading between the lines or understanding implicit meanings.

These students may struggle to summarize or discuss key points from assigned readings. Oftentimes their lack of understanding is due to not having the key foundational knowledge necessary to grapple with more complex texts.

Inconsistent Homework Quality and Reliance on Peers

You may notice during class that a student frequently borrows notes from a classmate or relies on peer support rather than reading the material themselves.

Many observations can be through class discussion, but it is important to pay attention to the student’s written assignments. They may contain misinterpretations of the text or lack depth and insight, which can be an indication of a deficiency in foundational reading skills. 

Low Engagement

Whether or not a student is actively engaged and interested in reading activities may seem like an obvious potential indicator of a student’s need for additional reading support, but this is another opportunity to be nuanced in your observations. 

When I taught The Watsons go to Birmingham 1963, I was lucky enough to have access to the audio narrated by LeVar Burton. Students would enter class excited and interested in the reading of the day and discussions around it.

But what about when they had to go back into the text to show evidence in a written response? Or when a student was absent and needed to read the chapter alone in order to catch up? I noticed the behaviors the student engaged in across a variety of different activities which gave me a better understanding of the whole child.

I noticed the behaviors the student engaged in across a variety of different activities which gave me a better understanding of the whole child.

By observing these behaviors, teachers can identify students who may need further assessment and support in developing their reading skills. If you suspect a gap in reading comprehension, connect with your school’s interventionist right away. 

Partnering with Your Interventionist

Collaborating with the school interventionist is essential when a student requires additional reading support.

Start by gathering relevant data on the student’s reading performance, such as test scores and observed behaviors. Clearly communicate your observations and concerns with the interventionist, providing specific examples of the student’s reading difficulties.

Explore SIPPS for Older Readers

Not all schools have the funding for a designated reading interventionist. The explicit scope and sequence and embedded teacher notes found in SIPPS makes the program easy to implement, even for instructors who do not specialize in reading instruction.

For students in grades 6–12 in need of early foundational skills, SIPPS Plus and Challenge offer a respectful and age-appropriate method for accelerating learning. Students practice reading strategies with engaging yet accessible texts that emulate the styles and themes of the books their peers are reading.