Chances are, faced with classes of students with widely differing reading levels, you’ve said, “It sure would be great if I had books that appealed to all my students.” During the 2007-2008 school year, my seventh graders ranged in ability from special education to above average. This mixture certainly challenged me to meet their differing needs. I had tried ability grouping, using the same novel for all students and changed my expectations and requirements depending upon the lexile level of the group. As expected, I found that the high-end students benefited greatly from this separation, while my less successful readers struggled even more than usual. It quickly became clear to me that struggling readers need to be around good readers in order to participate in discussions about books.  But how was I to handle the problem?

     The solution came to me from Scobre Press, offering high-interest fiction and non-fiction books.  Each title is available at two different lexile / grade levels.  For example, Legit, by Ron Berman, was written at a seventh grade reading level and a fifth grade level.  This allowed me to distribute books that contained the same content to all of my students.  However, unlike my previous attempt at differentiation, I did not need to separate students into groups based upon their reading level.  All the students read their own book and were able to complete the same assignments and participate in whole class discussions.  The students enjoyed a great deal of success by reading material that was written at, or close to, their lexile level. Student surveys revealed that both above-average and struggling readers benefited from these books. 

     In addition to being written at two different grade levels, Scobre Press Books also contain topics that pique the interest of middle school students.  For example, Legit, the true story of a championship video game player, instantly hooked the students because gaming is an activity they consider relevant and exciting.

     I strongly encourage any teacher to take a look at Scobre Press materials. The books truly changed many students’ attitudes about reading. Teaching these books also showed me that leveled reading, when done correctly, is a great way to help all levels of students feel successful about reading. 

http://www.scobre.com/products_complete_libraries.php