Remediation can happen
What about students who get out of elementary school without knowing how to decode fluently?
In a post on Education Week for 24 November 2025, Sarah Schwartz wrote about “When Older Students Can’t Read: How This Middle School Is Tackling Literacy.” Ms. Schwartz, one of the educational journalists whom I admire most, described efforts by an educators at Bow Memorial School in New Hampshire to address the needs of early adolescents who are reading poorly. Although not all of the students she discussed are eligible for special education, some are. What is more, Ms. Schwartz connected with some fine special education experts in researching her story.
Here’s her lede:
Loralyn LaBombard is the only reading specialist at Bow Memorial School, a middle school serving grades 5-8 in a leafy town outside Concord, N.H.
In the world of literacy education, that is not an unusual distinction. After elementary school, many schools reduce or eliminate positions for supporting struggling readers.
But several years ago, LaBombard started to feel like student needs were outpacing what she could handle. More middle schoolers needed help with foundational skills, like decoding words, and many students had the same gaps.
“This is not sustainable,” LaBombard remembered thinking. She wanted a way to reach more kids at once, and, just as importantly, help them build a community. “When you have a group of students who are all struggling in the same area, they make mistakes, they learn from each other,” she said.
Spearheaded by LaBombard, Bow has since launched an ambitious program to tackle foundational reading difficulties. In specialized classes across grades 5-8, students learn how to break down complex, multisyllabic words, improve their spelling, and practice reading fluently—all while also digging into novels and other whole books.
Along with some of our kids, lots of other kids who do not have identified disabilities, have reading problems. What’s to be done for them—all of them?
Ms. Schwartz focuses on Loralyn LaBombard’s efforts to promote beneficial reading education. However, she also introduced important context by securing observations about literacy development and special education from people like Kelly Ardita, the coordinator of special education student-services in the local education agency, Jessica Toste, and Kelly Williams (special education professors at the University of Texas and the University of Georgia, respectively).
It’s wonderful to see that Ms. Schwartz provided a good report about good things happening. It’s also great to know that she went to special educators for conceptual and evidentiary support for understanding the situation. And it’s great that she showed how special educators are helping general educators to provide effective services predicted on research. This report is worth a read.
Thanks for the positive article this morning!
I have long been interested in how to help adolescent students who are struggling with basic literacy skills. I had a student when I was teaching who had that struggle. He was in 6th grade when I got him and I had him through 8th grade. The first year we worked more on putting supports in place in his gen ed classes (this kid understood everything he heard, he just couldn't read) and on coping strategies for frustration because his behavior was taking a nosedive. We also worked on functional sight words that he needed to be able to recognize in everyday life. Then once we had a relationship of trust, in 7th grade, I started him on a high interest, low reading level curricula that included chapter books. He thrived on it. He loved getting to read the chapter books - one of the characters was a high school basketball player and this kid played jr high basketball so identified with the character. He made great strides and at one point was reading at a 3rd grade level (he started at primer on the Dolch list). Unfortunately at the end of 8th grade, I left to start my doc program and the person who took my place didn't bother to keep up the reading instruction with him and he ended up losing the skills he had gained.