Reading Intervention Strategies to Help Older Students

According to the National Literacy Institute, 45 million adults in the US are functionally illiterate, reading below a fifth grade level. Even more alarming, two-thirds of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of Grade 3 are likely to end up in jail or on welfare. If they are not reading proficiently by Grade 4, they will only have about a 22-percent chance of catching up. These statistics are not just numbers—they’re a call to action. As educators, we have the power to change this trajectory. Literacy intervention isn’t just about teaching reading. It's about changing lives.

Research-Based Reading Intervention Strategies

Supporting older striving readers presents unique challenges, as many have not yet developed the foundational literacy skills necessary for success. As educators, we often approach these students with empathy for both their current struggles and the efforts of their previous teachers, yet we may also experience a sense of discouragement, worrying that interventions at this stage might be insufficient. Perhaps most concerning, students’ self-efficacy and confidence are often deeply diminished, creating emotional barriers that compound their academic difficulties.

But here’s the good news: There’s a roadmap for teaching your striving readers with very clear, actionable steps that are evidence based and proven to work. The recent push of well-researched work on the Science of Reading is the perfect catalyst for that change. Frameworks like Scarborough’s Rope and the Simple View of Reading show that reading comprehension is the product of both word recognition—the ability to read the words on the page—and language comprehension—the ability to make meaning from those words. When both are strong, students thrive.

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Understanding Struggling Readers: Identifying Intervention Needs

Empathy is powerful—but clarity on each student’s skill level is transformational. If a student is not reading at grade level, then either their word recognition or language comprehension skills (or both!) is the culprit. To support older striving readers, we must identify their unique needs. 

First, determine if your students need support with foundational skills, like decoding. If upper-grade level students haven’t mastered decoding, they likely haven’t gotten the level of instruction and practice they need. As Dr. Anita Archer says, “There is no comprehension strategy powerful enough to compensate for the fact you can’t read the words.” Without fluent, automatic decoding, comprehension is compromised. 

Or, perhaps language comprehension is the barrier? While foundational reading skills are essential, they are not sufficient on their own to create proficient readers. Students also need opportunities to develop background knowledge, strengthen language comprehension, broaden their vocabulary, and apply comprehension strategies in purposeful ways to become fully capable readers. 

Assessment tools like i-Ready® provide domain-specific data that help pinpoint where to begin. This clarity allows you to deliver precise, impactful instruction designed for each student. Reading requires both word recognition to read the words automatically and language comprehension to make sense of what the words mean. Together, they unlock skilled reading. By addressing these areas of need, your students will make gains.

Implementing Effective Literacy Intervention in Upper Grades

Striving readers are not below-grade level thinkers. With the right support, they can become confident, capable readers. The key is to combine human connection with instructional precision. Here are a few suggestions for how to do this:

• Build motivation by recognizing progress and celebrating small wins so older striving readers feel seen and successful, and honoring students’ maturity levels and interest in complex ideas.
• Use decodable texts, repeated readings, and expressive reading to build fluency.
• Offer your students interesting, engaging, but also age-appropriate texts that feel relevant.
• Teach multisyllabic word decoding and morphology to unlock vocabulary and meaning, considering students need an accelerated approach to gain access to content they encounter as quickly as possible.
• Leverage prior knowledge and build background knowledge when necessary.

The older students get, the more critical it is that they feel seen as unique individuals, and this means tapping into their interests and motivation levers. Equally vital is your pedagogy and practice. Reading instruction must always be grounded in effective, evidence-based practices. 

High-Impact Reading Intervention Strategies That Accelerate Growth

Here are a few strategies that can make a big difference for your striving readers.

• Chunking and Looping: Break words into parts to build decoding skills and metacognition, versus trying to process long words letter by letter.
• Morphology Instruction: Teach prefixes, suffixes, and roots to unlock 60–80 percent of English words.
• Fluency Routines: Use repeated readings with a purpose and partner reading to build confidence and increase comprehension. Fluent reading allows readers to shift their focus from sounding out words to making sense of content. It accelerates growth in comprehension and builds confidence for attacking more complex texts.

Building Vocabulary and Knowledge through Reading Intervention Strategies

Reading is more than decoding—it’s about understanding. Readers with a wide, deep, and well-structured base of knowledge are better equipped to understand and engage with texts than those without it. Upper-grade level content is increasingly sophisticated, so some students are challenged to comprehend a text because they don’t know the meanings of important vocabulary words. Equipping students with word and world knowledge is critical.

• Word Knowledge ( i.e.,Vocabulary): Dr. Devin Kearns suggests teaching words that are less essential to the text and have simpler definitions quickly while focusing on more complex words that are critical to understanding the text with deeper instruction. Use short definitions, images, and explicit links to text with questions to check understanding during instruction.
• World Knowledge: You can build world knowledge by frontloading complicated concepts and connecting them to prior learning. Use visuals and videos and engage students in conversations about the topic to build knowledge before moving into the reading of the text.

The Matthew Effect and Why Reading Intervention Efforts Compound over Time

The Matthew Effect in literacy highlights that consistent reading leads to consistent growth. It reminds us that small steps in reading can lead to big gains over time. With intentional instruction and encouragement, even students who face challenges can accelerate their learning and close the gap. By fostering motivation, clarity, and conviction in yourself, you empower your students to do the same.

The Foundation of Successful Reading Intervention: It Starts with Teachers

The bottom line is that teachers are the most important resource in the classroom. Your mindset, clarity, and conviction are catalysts for change. It’s never too late to help a student learn to read—and it’s never too late to believe in your power to make that happen.

Want to hear more from Lisa? Tune in to her episode of the Extraordinary Educators™ Podcast.

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Other recommended resources: 
Leveraging Teacher Emotions for Student Success
Small School, Big Impact: Proven Strategies to Improve Student Outcomes
From Assessment to Intervention—Insights from a Reading Specialist