Description

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No two students in grades 4–8 are identical, and many struggle with literacy for different reasons. Using a teacher-friendly, hands-on approach, this eminently practical book walks educators through the nuts and bolts of literacy intervention in the middle grades. Highlights include “North Star” principles to orient instruction, an assessment flowchart, and extended case studies of three middle-grades learners. The book offers evidence-based intervention practices for targeting specific literacy components, including word recognition, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Teachers are guided to plan structured but flexible interventions that promote literacy growth and engagement. Sample lesson plans and clear, engaging figures illustrate how to make literacy intervention work for all students.
 

About the Author

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Kevin Flanigan, PhD, is Professor in the Literacy Department at West Chester University (WCU) in Pennsylvania. He works in the WCU Reading Center along with master’s students to assess and teach children and young adults who struggle to read and write. A former middle-grades classroom teacher and reading specialist/coach, Dr. Flanigan researches and writes about developmental word knowledge and interventions for students with reading difficulties and challenges. He is coauthor of several books, including Literacy Intervention in the Middle Grades; Assessment for Reading Instruction, Fourth Edition; and Developing Word Recognition.
 
Latisha Hayes, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education at the University of Virginia (UVA), where she teaches courses focused on the language structures of English and data-based decisions to inform interventions for students with reading difficulties. She is also Director of UVA's McGuffey Reading Clinical Services, where she works with preservice and inservice teachers to provide students across the grades with diagnostic and tutoring services. As a special educator and reading specialist, Dr. Hayes has taught students with reading disabilities across the elementary and middle grades. She is coauthor of several books, including Literacy Intervention in the Middle Grades and Developing Word Recognition.
 

Praise For…

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"The book leads with 10 powerful ‘North Star’ principles that guide teachers and school leaders to envision high-quality, purposeful, responsive, and practical literacy intervention in grades 4-8. This book will help preservice and inservice teachers to develop a comprehensive understanding of their students as active readers and to target areas of unfinished literacy learning. The book will be useful to anyone designing multi-tiered systems of support in literacy."--Stephanie Tatel, MAT, MEd, Coordinator of Literacy, Charlottesville City Schools, Virginia

"As a reading specialist, teacher educator, and researcher working in middle-grades classrooms since 1982, I can attest that Flanigan and Hayes have produced an intervention resource that is both deep and wide. The authors weave theory and case studies in memorable ways that bring important constructs to life. Educators can rely on this book for research-based, explicit, systematic instructional suggestions--for guidance on where to start and where to go next. The practices in this book push hard for measurable progress that kids can see, because for middle-grades learners, there is no time to waste."--Kathleen J. Brown, PhD, Director, University of Utah Reading Clinic

"In this exceptional, one-of-a-kind work, master teachers and mentors Flanigan and Hayes guide intermediate and middle-grades teachers to catch students 'before they fall.' The book provides the foundational literacy knowledge required to teach older students with significant literacy challenges. The authors reassuringly demonstrate how to assess, organize, and provide instruction that is developmentally based--so very rare in grades 4–8, yet so critical--thereby ensuring that instruction will be effective, motivating, and lasting. This book will be welcomed as a robust and powerful resource for undergraduate and graduate courses and professional development workshops."--Shane Templeton, PhD, Foundation Professor Emeritus of Literacy Studies, University of Nevada, Reno