Free Reading Program for Teens who have Fallen Behind

Reading is a skill that you are meant to obtain when you are in the very early stages of your education, many do not and make it to high school without appropriate reading levels.

Teaching reading, especially remedial reading comes with its own set of challenges, not the least that the student might feel a bit humiliated, especially if they are being given learning materials that are aimed at young children.

Having noticed the lack of reading programs aimed at older struggling readers, 2020 Churchill Fellow, Jessica Terradas has launched new online training modules aiming to help high school students catch up with their reading.

The journey began when Ms Terradas was a special education teacher at Como Secondary College in WA.

She noticed most reading programs were designed for younger children, and failing to meet the needs of teenagers, many of whom had been frustrated with literacy for years.

“Australia is facing a literacy crisis,” said Ms Terradas.

“Almost one in three kids entering high school are lacking proficient reading skills. So in your average classroom, that’s eight out of 24 kids,” she said.

“Many high school teachers feel unprepared to tackle this issue,” she said.

The modules, for secondary teachers and leaders, literacy coordinators, special education teachers, in the series provide an overview of adolescent literacy and why some students have difficulty with reading so teachers can enhance their ability to address the diverse needs of older struggling readers.

The modules provide practice guidance to implement an effective Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) in secondary settings and embed additional reading instruction and effective intervention initiatives aimed at struggling adolescent readers.

The Winston Churchill Impact Funding Program and the Snow Foundation fully sponsored this initiative, making it a free online professional learning to support secondary school readers.

Jess was awarded the 2020 Dorothy and Brian Wilson Churchill Fellowship to study effective language and literacy screening and intervention practices for at-risk students, travelling to Belgium, Canada, France, the UK and the USA.

The modules are available here: https://jct-consultant.com/modules/

Jess is also the co-founder of the Literacy Intervention in Secondary Schools (LISS) network, gathering like-minded educators willing to support older struggling readers in their school. They meet once a term, online.