Scholarship Series: Struggling Adolescent Readers

Kate Crist
Oct 1
2 min read

Learning from Scholarship, Connecting to Practice

September, 2025

New for the 2025-2026 school year: Education 4500’s Scholarship Series, reflecting what middle and high school educators I work with are currently using to frame and focus their literacy work. I hope you find the resources helpful for yourself and your colleagues. If you use the resources, find them insightful, or want to give feedback on them please email info@education4500.com.

LEARN

Voyager Sopris Learning. (2025, June 19). Struggling adolescent readers: Planning for successful implementation of MTSS [Podcast episode]. EDVIEW360.

Find recording and transcript at: https://www.voyagersopris.com/podcasts/2025/planning-for-successful-implementation-of-mtss

Summary:

This episode of the EDVIEW 360 podcast features Michelle Elia, who currently works preparing pre-service teachers at Marietta college and was formerly the literacy lead at the Ohio Department of Education. Elia and host Pam Austin explore why reading struggles persist into middle and high school and what those schools can do to better support adolescent literacy. This includes a deep dive into critical components of secondary school MTSS, evidence-based instructional strategies that should be in every classroom, and considerations that are important for adolescent learners.

Read This If:

You are a systems leader in a middle or high school with students who need literacy support (hint: you likely are).

Guiding Questions

PROCESS: Guiding Questions for Understanding. Use to process learning individually or in small groups.

What misconceptions about adolescent literacy does Elia present? What does Elia offer to counter each of these misconceptions?
Elia details three key elements of a secondary school’s MTSS framework: strong core instruction, providing interventions, and assessment. How are these different in a secondary school context from an elementary school context?
Provide two examples from Elia that support the following statement: “All teachers can use literacy to support content area learning.”
Name and describe at least three elements of strong adolescent literacy interventions, as defined by Elia.
According to Elia, what critical role do school administrators plan in supporting adolescent literacy?

DISCUSS: Guiding Questions for Discussion. Use to deepen learning with colleagues.

In a small group - share the misconceptions you have or had about adolescent literacy. Discuss how these misconceptions have shaped your practice (instruction, policy, etc) in the past.
Name the challenges Elia identifies as unique to adolescent literacy. To what extent do you see these challenges in your own students and school(s)?
How does the current MTSS at your school(s) reflect the needs Elias identifies around core instruction, interventions, assessments, and team work?
Consider the MTSS framework Elia provides in this podcast. Discuss as a group:
- What are the 2-3 key elements of a secondary literacy MTSS that would be most relevant to our school(s)?
- How might we change our current MTSS to better reflect these 2-3 key elements?
- Consider the changes named. For each: What is changing and what is the outcome goal? Who is involved in the change? Who is responsible for leading the change? What is the timeline for change?

If you would like a PDF-copy of this resource, you can find that here.