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A Clear Framework for Supporting Struggling Readers
This research-based professional learning program was designed for teachers working with students who continue to struggle with reading. It builds a clear understanding of how reading develops, why difficulties persist, and what effective instruction looks like for older struggling readers.
The program goes beyond surface-level strategies, helping teachers identify instructional gaps, better interpret student reading behaviors, and make informed decisions that lead to meaningful progress in the classroom.
PHONEMICS
PHONICS
FLUENCY
VOCABULARY
COMPREHNSION
How Our Program is Structured
The program is organized into five core modules that reflect the essential components of reading. Each course focuses on one area of literacy while explicitly showing how it connects to the others.
Courses are self-paced and fully online, allowing you to move through the content in a way that fits your professional and personal schedules. Modules can be completed individually or as part of the full program, and you can revisit lessons as needed.
The structure is intentional. Understanding is built first, followed by practical application. This ensures instructional choices are purposeful rather than reactive and aligned with how reading skills actually develop.
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Courses
1. PHONEMIC AWARENESS
Understanding the Sound
System of Language
Some students continue to struggle with reading even after years of instruction because they lack a secure awareness of sounds in spoken language. These gaps often go unnoticed, yet they interfere with decoding, spelling, and fluency long after the early grades.
This course focuses on:
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Understanding phonemic awareness as a foundational skill at any age
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Identifying phonemic awareness gaps in older struggling readers
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Connecting sound-level difficulties to decoding and spelling challenges
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Providing instruction that is age-respectful and instructionally targeted
By the end of this module, you will be able to recognize when phonemic awareness is limiting progress and respond with instruction that strengthens the foundation for accurate reading.
2. PHONICS
Making Sense of
Sound-Spelling Relationships
Many struggling readers rely on guessing, memorization, or context because their understanding of sound–spelling relationships is incomplete or fragile. These students often appear to be reading, but their decoding is inefficient and inconsistent.
This course focuses on:
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Understanding why phonics gaps persist beyond the early grades
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Clarifying what explicit, systematic phonics instruction involves
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Identifying decoding behaviors that signal underlying gaps
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Aligning phonics instruction with assessment and observed reading behaviors
By the end of this module, you will have a clearer framework for supporting decoding development and reducing students’ reliance on ineffective reading strategies.
3. FLUENCY
Building Accuracy, Automaticity,
and Meaningful Reading
When students read slowly, inaccurately, or without phrasing, comprehension suffers. Fluency difficulties are often treated as a speed issue, when in reality they reflect deeper challenges with decoding and automaticity.
This course focuses on:
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Understanding fluency as accuracy, automaticity, and phrasing
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Interpreting fluency data beyond words per minute
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Identifying when fluency difficulties stem from decoding challenges
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Designing instruction that builds fluency through intentional practice
By the end of this module, you will be better equipped to interpret fluency concerns and provide instruction that supports smoother, more meaningful reading.
4. VOCABULARY
Supporting Word Knowledge
and Language Comprehension
Many struggling readers have difficulty accessing grade-level texts because limited vocabulary and background knowledge increase cognitive load. Without explicit support, these students work harder just to understand the words, leaving little capacity for comprehension.
This course focuses on:
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Understanding how vocabulary supports comprehension
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Recognizing how limited word knowledge affects text access
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Building vocabulary and background knowledge intentionally
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Integrating vocabulary instruction into everyday literacy routines
By the end of this module, you will be able to reduce barriers to comprehension by strengthening word knowledge and supporting students’ access to increasingly complex texts.
5. COMPREHENSION
Teaching Comprehension
as an Active Process
Some students can read the words on the page but struggle to make sense of what they read. Comprehension difficulties often arise when decoding, fluency, or vocabulary weaknesses are not fully addressed.
This course focuses on:
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Teaching comprehension as an active, structured process
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Connecting comprehension instruction to foundational reading skills
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Modeling thinking and guiding meaningful discussion
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Designing instruction that supports understanding over recall
By the end of this module, you will have a clearer approach to comprehension instruction that supports deeper understanding and connects meaning-making to the full reading process.
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What You Will Gain from The Struggling Readers Program
Our program is well suited to teachers providing whole-class instruction, small-group support, or targeted intervention, as well as educators who are seeking clarity rather than quick fixes or scripted programs. Whether you are new to the Science of Reading or revisiting your instructional approach, the content is designed to be accessible while remaining firmly grounded in research.
Teachers who complete the program can look forward to:
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A stronger understanding of how reading skills develop and interact.
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Greater confidence identifying the root causes of reading difficulties.
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Clearer alignment between assessment, instruction, and intervention.
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Practical knowledge that can be applied immediately in the classroom.
Instruction becomes more intentional, decisions feel more grounded, and progress becomes easier to recognize and support.
How This Professional Learning Is Different
Many literacy courses focus primarily on early reading or assume that foundational skills have already been mastered by the time students reach upper elementary. As a result, teachers are often given strategies without a clear explanation of why they work or how they address underlying reading difficulties.
The Struggling Readers Program takes a different approach. It addresses the needs of older struggling readers directly, explaining the relationships between phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension in a way that supports thoughtful instruction. The emphasis is on understanding the why behind instructional choices, not on compliance with a particular method or trend.
This professional learning is designed to support and strengthen teacher expertise, not replace it.
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Enrollment and Access
Enrollment is completed directly through the form below by choosing the course you would like to take. Once payment is processed, you will receive access to the course in Instructure, the learning platform used to host the program.
After enrollment, a confirmation email is sent immediately. Course access is then created using the email address provided at checkout, and a separate email with login instructions is sent within one business day.
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