Practice Brief-Struggling Readers.pdf

CONCLUDING REMARKSCertain recommendations may seem straightforward, easy to implement, oralready be part of your school, district, or state’s daily practice. There may alsobe some instructional practices that leave you wondering how and when to putthem in place. We urge you to use this document to build your backgroundknowledge about features of reading instruction for older struggling readers,but not to stop here. The response to reading failure in the older grades needsto be active and purposeful. It will look different depending on current practiceand individual needs and will require extensive professional development in thefeatures of instruction this brief describes as well as in other areas of effectivepractices such as assessment. We cannot continue to implement practices thatfail to result in positive outcomes for struggling readers. To meet the needs ofthese students, instruction must change. We now have the knowledge base toprovide this essential instruction.35