Although over 40 U.S. states and the District of Columbia have adopted legislation requiring schools to use evidence-based methods for teaching reading, most of the requirements end in the early elementary grades. So where does that leave our high school students?
Not in a good place. On the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress, nearly 70 percent of 8th graders scored below proficiency in reading. Many of these students are then removed from core academic classes for reading interventions. Although well-intended, these interventions often fail because there’s too much content to cover, too little fidelity in implementation, too many competing needs among high school students, and too little attention to culturally responsive and age-appropriate learning.
As a teacher of both high school English and social studies, I promote higher-level reading by embedding four key science of reading practices into my daily instruction. According to Natalie Wexler, author of The Knowledge Gap, “The most important factor in determining whether readers can understand a text is how much relevant vocabulary and background knowledge they have.” We also know that the volume of reading counts; students should be reading a lot—and that reading should be rigorous, not dumbed down. Finally, students need to feel a sense of belonging to do any of this hard work, in the absence of which instruction will likely falter.
This information isn’t new. What is new is focusing on the four keys that follow to improve high school reading.
Four Keys to Unlocking Tough Texts
Key 1. Build Vocabulary
We English and social studies teachers are often good about teaching our Tier 2 content vocabulary, but we must pay attention to the Tier 1 words that repeatedly show up across content areas. These include academic task words like “analyze” and “evaluate,” text structure words like “however” and “therefore,” academic thinking words like “claim” and “evidence,” and relationship words like “factor” and “pattern.” Selecting the right words to teach is our first task.
Then we must teach those words. This is not another trendy vocabulary strategy, but simply a reminder not to neglect this crucial element of our instruction. Use the Frayer Model, a four-square graphic organizer where students record a word’s definition, characteristics, examples, and nonexamples, thereby building a richer understanding than a dictionary definition might provide. Or try Margaret Calderon’s Seven Step Model, which builds word knowledge progressively through explanation, discussion, drawing, and student restatements of word meaning. Embrace one or the other—but do embrace something.
Instead of scaffolding the text, I scaffold the challenge.
To get the most bang for your buck, lean into morphology instruction, the explicit teaching of word parts—roots, prefixes, and suffixes—to help students understand how words are formed, spelled, and defined. Understanding morphemes helps students decode chunks of multisyllabic words and recognize the meaning of these chunks, leading to greater comprehension.
Key 2. Build Background Knowledge
In her article, “Building Knowledge,” Wexler notes that, “Knowledge, like Velcro, sticks best to other related knowledge.” How, then, are we teachers activating the knowledge students already have and creating the stuff for new knowledge to stick to?
First, we must find out what students already know to help get their new learning—and the reading—to stick. We can do this through K-W-L charts, anticipation guides, four-corners discussions, human barometers, quick writes, wrap-around discussions, and more.
Second, we need to build background knowledge. Text sets and videos can give students multiple pathways into a concept by offering a range of complexity levels. For example, to better understand the Shelby v. Holder Supreme Court decision, which swung open the door for U.S. states to enact restrictive voting laws, my students began by watching a video, used a see-think-wonder protocol to discuss images related to the decision, and mapped what they already knew about voting access using semantic mapping. Taking the time to build this schema enabled students to successfully tackle the core text.
We need to do more than just make sure that students are reading challenging texts; they must also read a lot of them.
Key 3. Increase the Volume of Hard Reading
In years past, I was teaching students who were significantly below grade level. So, I modified texts—I shortened sentences and replaced words—to make the texts easier. Sadly, I wasn’t doing students any favors.
Now, instead of scaffolding the text, I scaffold the challenge, as education researcher Sarah Lupo and her colleagues argue. I identify what will be difficult about the text—the syntax? the dense ideas? the new vocabulary?—and I help students with that hard thing. In her book Tackling Tough Texts (Guilford Press, 2024), Lupo explains that teachers can offer students a detailed and thorough reading guide. Reading guides include questions that I would ask students if I were sitting next to them while they read to check for understanding and help them draw connections and make predictions in the text before moving on.
But we need to do more than just make sure that students are reading challenging texts; they must also read a lot of them. Reading a higher volume of texts has a greater correspondence with building vocabulary, knowledge, and overall reading achievement.
If we’re asking them to do hard work, we must make sure that every student feels cared for, loved, and affirmed in our classroom.
Key 4. Foster Belonging
These are all important strategies, but if we want to get serious about reading instruction in our high schools, we must start from a foundation of belonging. Too often, the minute I ask students to read in class, five hands shoot up; those five students want to escape to the bathroom. Why? Because reading is hard, and high school students often don’t want to do really hard things.
If we’re asking them to do hard work, we must make sure that every student feels cared for, loved, and affirmed in our classroom. This means knowing each student’s name and pronouncing it correctly; taking time to learn about their family, background, and heritage; making positive phone calls home; and ensuring that classroom libraries and displays reflect students’ experiences and celebrate their cultures and identities.
It also includes the bigger things: celebrating students’ cultures districtwide; embedding curriculum with real student voice opportunities; and supporting students and their families with food insecurity, immigration, and housing concerns. We must signal to students that we’re here for them and their families.
The Time Is Now
What are your students reading tomorrow? Is it rigorous? Have you planned for vocabulary instruction, background knowledge, volume, and belonging? Start there. Start tomorrow. The more intentionally you do this work, the more your students will thrive.
