By eighth grade, two-thirds of students are struggling to comprehend grade-level texts. As text books and other reading materials increase in complexity, this shortfall in comprehension can lead to low achievement across all subject areas. In this topic you'll find resources designed to address challenges and improve literacy and comprehension in middle and high school and.

To provide students with the best support in their developing literacy skills, teachers need to provide direct, explicit vocabulary and comprehension strategy instruction that leads to students' independent practice, opportunities for extended text discussion, and monitoring for all students' reading progress, including intensive intervention for struggling students.

To learn more about the research underlying these practices, view the IES Practice Guide, Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and Intervention Practices.