Teaching Reading Strategies to Secondary School Students
Judith L. Miesner
An important issue that is on the mind of most teachers, most parents, and many politicians
today is the literacy of children. Since the passing of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), an
emphasis has been placed on literacy education in the lower elementary grades and much has
changed because of it. Now the U.S. Department of Education (as cited in Parris & Block, 2007) stated
that “the federal government is now sending a clear message that the No Child Left Behind Act of
2001 (NCLB) not only applies to elementary students, but also to all secondary students as well” (p.
582). With that message comes a new flurry of activity to evaluate and change at the secondary level.
Most core teachers at the secondary level, those who teach math, social studies, science, and
English, have not been trained to teach literacy skills to students who struggle with textbooks (Baling
& Evans, 2008). Teachers now face students who are 15-years-old, are struggling readers and who
are frequently assigned readings and activities that are too hard for them to accomplish (Hock &
Deshler, 2003; Fisher, 2008). The focus of this paper is how teachers and their school systems are
integrating literacy training into the curriculum for struggling adolescents.
The identification of strategies used by teachers of adolescents who are struggling or who
have been diagnosed as at-risk in reading is important if educators are to find out what is working.
There are many strategies for teaching reading, but an adolescent who is testing at the fourth-grade
level for reading will not respond positively to approaches and materials that are used to teach
reading to fourth graders. Likewise, a 15-ye