Middle grades students who are reading considerably below their grade placement are at risk of not completing even a basic education.  Approximately 30 percent of Indiana’s freshmen do not graduate from high school.  Many of these students will have dropped out because their poor reading ability will have rendered their mastery of information difficult.  Obviously, it is important that such students focus on improving their word recognition and word analysis skills.  Even though they have been taught these skills many times without much success, they often are ready to learn in the middle grades.  But they are no longer in the primary grades, and the instruction they receive must be appropriate for the learning needs of young adolescents.

Many tests have been designed to help teachers know exactly what instruction is needed.  Indiana college and university corrective/diagnostic/remedial reading courses provide this information.  The Handbook of Literacy Assessment and Evaluation by Bill Harp (Christopher-Gordon Publishers) contains detailed descriptions of many reading tests.