Placement matters: Is your reading intervention effective?

Abstract

Stand-alone reading intervention courses, or reading classes, are designed to facilitate the literacy development of adolescents who have been deemed “struggling” readers. However, the existence of such courses does not mean that these goals are realized. Decades of qualitative research on youth perspectives and experiences have documented how inequity can persist within reading classes. Nevertheless, district mandates or curricular adoptions often require schools to offer these courses. To mitigate students’ negative experiences when these courses are offered, Maneka Deanna Brooks, Katherine K. Frankel, and Julie E. Learned draw on their research to propose a four-phase process to evaluate and revise policies and practices for placing students in reading classes.