English Resource Center

Strategic Reading Courses  

We use incoming data from the middle school to identify students who may benefit from this course, which would take place two days per week during your child’s study hall, Scout Seminar, or Learning Strategies where applicable. 

Strategic Reading 1 

Students recommended for this course have identified decoding gaps that will be targeted specifically through a research-based intervention program. Consultation and data collection through the reading specialist, psychologists, or other individuals will guide placement decisions for this course. 

This general education credit intervention course provides identified students with intensive, targeted word learning and reading instruction in order for them to be more successful readers and writers in their academic courses. Students will focus on word recognition and decoding skills, vocabulary expansion, reading fluency, and spelling skills through targeted approaches, which could include whole-class, small-group, or individualized instruction. This course will be offered as a year-long lab experience (students meeting with the reading specialist on a flexible, mutually agreed upon schedule)…The course structure is determined by the reading specialist’s assessment of students’ needs.

Strategic Reading 2

This semester-long support course is designed for identified students seeking to achieve higher levels of comprehension of complex texts. The students develop content-area reading strategies, set personal reading goals, and then map their progress toward achieving those goals; they also spend time building vocabulary and word knowledge, practice note-taking skills, and increase their reading stamina. The teacher assesses each student’s needs at the beginning of the course and designs lessons to meet the needs of all in the class. Some class time will be spent looking at special circumstances for reading, such as ACT or other standardized tests.

Students may enroll for one semester or two semesters for general education credit each semester. Students are regularly asked to check in with the teacher regarding their reading in other courses to reflect on which strategies they are using most effectively.

Strategic Reading 3 

Strategic Reading 3 Lab builds on skills and habits of mind that students have acquired in Strategic Reading 1 or Strategic Reading 2. Students enrolled in this lab experience will meet with a reading specialist on a flexible, mutually agreed upon schedule during part of their study hall (or Learning Strategies course if applicable) to continue building reading skills and strategies or to build writing skills related to reading tasks within their academic courses. Students and specialists will set quarter goals individually and monitor student progress toward those goals. Students can be working on a variety of skill sets or habits of mind related to reading: comprehension strategy work, fluency, writing about text (i.e. analysis essays or DBQ’s), word attack strategies, note-making or annotating for understanding, or other meaning-making activities to support work in their core academic classes.