What About the Older Kids? How to Effectively Address Learning Loss in Middle School

As a parent of two middle school daughters, this issue is close to my heart. The science of reading has prompted a lot of changes in elementary education. Schools and teachers have been working hard to reassess their curricula, teaching methods, and resources. While this focus on younger students is necessary, we can't forget about the older ones—particularly those in middle school. These are the "COVID kids," who missed crucial foundational years due to the pandemic. The gaps we’re seeing now are larger than ever before, and addressing them comes with a set of unique challenges.

Many middle school teachers are not trained to teach reading, and even if they are, they often lack the resources to do so effectively. The issue is compounded by scheduling constraints. In my district, middle schools operate on a 9-period day, with students required to take English, math, science, and social studies and electives like music, art, or foreign languages. There’s also lunch, and in some cases, high school credit courses are offered. With so many required subjects, it leaves little room for anything extra. Teachers also have their limitations—they’re contractually required to teach five periods, and reading teachers can’t teach more than three periods in a row.

I recently read Shanahan's blog about dealing with the aftermath of COVID. Due to the constraints of middle school life coupled with extreme learning loss from the pandemic, I knew we needed a bold approach to address these gaps. At the end of the 2023/24 school year, I had 4th and 5th-grade teachers administer a spelling inventory to help pinpoint where students were struggling in word reading. The middle schools in my district serve 5th-8th grades, so this assessment gave us valuable data on students’ word reading abilities. Over the summer, I analyzed this data and grouped students based on their performance.

Our middle school already had an extension period for 5th and 6th grades, so we decided to transform it into a "WIN" (What I Need) block. Instead of staying with their homeroom teachers, students rotated to a teacher who could provide targeted instruction based on their needs. We used a phonics program that was easy for teachers to learn, grouping students according to their level of proficiency. Students who had mastered phonics were placed in extension periods focused on writing and extension work aligned with core subjects.

Behavior Comes Before Belief

Sounds like a solid plan, right? Well, in theory, yes, but in practice, it was much trickier. Shifting teacher mindsets to embrace new approaches to reading instruction can be a challenging aspect of implementing meaningful educational change. For many teachers, longstanding beliefs and practices are deeply ingrained. Teachers often view their teaching methods as central to their professional identity. Fullan (2011) further described why changing beliefs is so difficult, asserting that people’s behaviors often change before their beliefs do. This means that teachers may be resistant to new instructional methods until they see their effectiveness in practice. According to Fullan (2011), it is not inspirational visions or even strong research evidence alone that typically shift beliefs; instead, it is the experience of success that builds confidence in new approaches. In my case, teachers didn't love the idea of losing their homerooms during WIN. They also didn’t feel equipped to teach reading. The guidance counselors were frustrated with the changes in the schedule and the principals, who fielded a lot of complaints weren't thrilled with the new idea of a WIN block. It was a tough start, and there were moments when I questioned whether it would all be worth it.

But I kept reminding myself: behavior changes before beliefs. I could ask teachers to implement something, but I couldn’t force them to believe in it. Over time, however, there were signs of progress. One 6th-grade teacher shared that using the scooping method helped her students decode words like "Neolithic." Students even recognized that they had gained new skills and could apply them in different areas of the school day.

While the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) report this month showed a decline in reading scores, especially among struggling students, our middle schools showed the opposite trend. Diagnostic results from the school with the highest needs saw more progress than any other building in the district. Additionally, each middle school increased the number of students in the grade level extension block. Students working in the lowest level of phonics groups expressed pride when they saw the improvement they made, stating that they had never made so much progress before. Once the mid-year data came back, and teachers could see the progress the students had made, their attitudes towards the WIN block have changed.

For Teachers

Middle school teachers often find themselves in a tough spot: they want to help students become better readers but also need to teach the required curriculum. My advice: start incorporating word reading instruction into your lessons. Teach syllable division patterns, and help students decode multisyllabic words. The main difference between teaching reading to older kids rather than younger kids is that older kids need more practice and much sooner with multisyllabic words. For instance, “napkin” is just two CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words combined. Teach students how to decode and read CVC words, but then quikcly introduce the idea of nap/kin words. You can do the same with other word patterns: teach 1 syllable VCe (vowel-consonant-e) words and then introduce words like rep/tile or mis/take. Introduce morphology by teaching students to break words down into roots, bases, and affixes. In my middle schools we used the iReady Phonics for Reading program. It was simple to learn and provided systematic, explicit instruction in phonics.

For Administrators

I have three pieces of advice for administrators. First, take a close look at your master schedule. Work with your guidance counselors to carve out a period for something like a WIN block. If that’s not possible, try teaming your teachers and dedicate one day in the cycle to this focused instruction.

My second piece of advice is make sure you’re using both word reading assessments and oral reading fluency assessments. Multiple measures are key when determining deficit areas. Digital screener tools often miss key aspects of reading development, so relying on them too heavily could lead to overlooking struggling students or focusing on the wrong areas. This could waste time and resources, and ultimately won't help the students improve their reading skills.

Lastly, make sure to support your teachers. Remember, many have not been tasked with acutally having to teach reading. They will need materials, support, and time to adjust to the new procedures. We used the iReady Phonics for Reading program. It was simple to learn and provided systematic, explicit instruction in phonics.

Make yourself available to the teachers as much as possible. We spent the majority of commmon planning time and department meetings talking about WIN related topics. Whenever they needed me, I went out to the middle schools to listen to their concerns, answer the questions, look at data, and problem solve together. It was exhausting and very time consuming. However, it worked. And the students are better readers because of it.

By making small changes and staying focused on the needs of our students, we can make a real difference for these older learners. Their gaps may be larger, but with the right support, they can still catch up and thrive.

References

Fullan, M. (2011). Change leader: Learning to do what matters most. Jossey-Bass.

Shanahan, T. (2023, April 15). If you want higher reading scores you're going to have to deal with the COVID aftermath. Achieving Post-COVID Reading Success | Shanahan on Literacy

Curriculum Associates - Phonics for Reading