A Secondary Intervention in Reading: Word Skills for Junior High

Abstract The school involved in the study is a diverse, faith-based, private school located in a large Midwestern city. Within the school, reading skills vary considerably. Typically, decoding and word skills are not widely taught after the third grade. Sixteen Junior High students who underachieve in reading were given additional instruction using the Words Their Way series four days per week over the course of four months to improve reading skills. Students were pre and post-tested using fluency and comprehension portions of AIMSweb and the Qualitative Reading Inventory 5. Results indicated a statistically significant improvement in fluency, and gains in comprehension scores for some students. The study helped reveal issues related to methods of instruction, assessment, scheduling, and selection of materials