Motivating the High School Struggling Reader

High school struggling readers exist in every classroom. They have difficulty in most subject areas and are deprived of much knowledge and interaction in their educational experience because of this setback. Today, during the age of high stakes testing, a struggling high school reader can be denied a diploma. At the Area Learning Center, a significant number of students attend because of their reading challenges. This study attempts to discover what factors can motivate the high school struggling reader to read more enthusiastically. Through open ended interviews, 14 students share their personal and academic experiences with reading. As students describe their most meaningful and intimate interactions with text and their most painful struggles as readers, three dominate themes surface. These significant themes form the study\u27s recommendations to ultimately benefit and improve the high school struggling reader