Building Reading Proficiency at the Secondary Level: A Guide to Resources

How Resources Were Selected

Criteria for Inclusion of Programs and Strategies

Programs and strategies were included in the Guide if aligned with the following criteria:

Developmentally, contextually, and socially appropriate for improving the reading of struggling secondary readers, grades 6-12.
Grounded in reading theory and consistent with principles of effective reading instruction. Programs also had to be consistent with principles of effective professional development of teachers.
Documented to be effective based on quantitative or qualitative data reported in scholarly, refereed publications. Programs could instead be documented by a formal program evaluation.

Explanation of the Selection Criteria

Developmentally, contextually, and socially appropriate for improving the reading of struggling secondary readers, grades 6-12.

Here secondary is defined as grades six through twelve, the most common grade span for middle/junior high and senior high schools. Adolescents in these years have unique cognitive, social, and personal needs. Interventions designed for elementary readers may not provide sufficient challenge to prepare secondary students to be successful in their classrooms. Interventions designed for postsecondary students or for the workplace may not be appropriate for the personal or social needs of secondary readers. Therefore we selected resources that could support the secondary content classroom and respect the adolescent's need for social interaction and personal identity. We selected programs that had been developed for secondary populations and did not simply repackage materials written for younger or older readers.
Grounded in reading theory and consistent with principles of effective reading instruction. Programs also had to be consistent with principles of effective professional development of teachers.

We reviewed the research literature on secondary reading proficiency from multiple perspectives, including the cognitive and sociocultural, and organized the findings around four needs:
- Motivation to Read (specifically, intrinsic motivation to persist in a reading task);
- Decoding Skill (which includes basic decoding skill and fluency);
- Language Comprehension (which includes linguistic knowledge, background knowledge, making inferences, and self-regulated comprehending); and
- Transacting with Text (engaging in a dialog with the text, especially in making personal connections)
We addressed each need from the perspective of culturally and linguistically diverse learners.

From the research literature on effective reading instruction, we found evidence for the following principles:
- Recognition and Honor of Cultural and Linguistic Diversity
- Assessment During Teaching
- Scaffolds Before, During and After Reading
- Repertoires of Strategies
- Explicit Instruction of Strategies
- Reading Practice
- Student Choice and Authentic Tasks
- Scaffolding Across the Classroom Curriculum
From the literature on principles of effective professional development of teachers, we found evidence for the following factors:
- Continuous and Sustained Learning
- Locally Based Initiatives
- Adaptation Rather than Adoption of Programs
- Teacher as Researcher
A detailed explanation of these factors begins on page 9.
Documented to be effective based on quantitative or qualitative data reported in scholarly, refereed publications. Programs could instead be documented by a formal program evaluation.

Some programs or strategies may have been overlooked or, if new, not included due to the lack of documentation of effectiveness. They can be added as the Guide is updated. Click here for detailed information on how the criteria were developed and applied.

Rating of Resources for Building Secondary Reading Proficiency Based on Level of Support and Implementation

Criterion	Well Established	Established	Promising	Insufficient Evidence
*Type of documentation*	Documentation with both quantitative and qualitative data from three or more sources, including: Peer-reviewed publication, not written by the developer; Developer- sponsored program evaluation; and Independent program evaluation.	Documentation with quantitative or qualitative data from at least one source, including: Peer-reviewed publication or Developer- sponsored program evaluation.	Documentation with quantitative or qualitative data from two or more sources, including: Peer-reviewed publication; Developer- sponsored program evaluation; and/or Independent program evaluation.	Quantitative or qualitative data has been collected and made available by the developer but no program evaluation has been conducted. Non- peer-reviewed publication.
*Recency of documentation*	Documentation has been established over an extended period of time, including the last 5 years.	Documentation over the last 10 years, but not in the last 5 years.	Documentation only in the last 3 years.	No documentation in the last 10 years.
*Effectiveness with Target Population*	Documented effectiveness with varied populations of struggling secondary readers.	Documented effectiveness with 1-2 populations of struggling secondary readers.	Documented effectiveness with other populations of readers but only anecdotal evidence with struggling secondary readers.	Anecdotal effectiveness with struggling secondary readers or other readers.
*Extent of Implementation*	Implemented in at least 5 sites beyond a pilot.	Implemented in 3-4 sites beyond a pilot.	Implemented in 1-2 sites beyond a pilot.	Implemented in a pilot.

Next page: Struggling Secondary Readers: A Closer Look

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