Struggling readers benefit more from explicit, skill-based, differentiated instruction.

Guided reading is a specific, small-group instructional method closely tied to the balanced literacy or whole language curriculum approach. It is a system of grouping young readers by similar reading ability that teachers have used for decades. Students are assigned to groups based on reading levels, and for each designated level, there are specific series of books that students read in their small groups.

Guided reading is grounded in moving students through these leveled texts and to promote students’ silent, independent reading in increasingly challenging texts. Texts for guided reading are leveled by an internal system created by curriculum developers that create instructional materials aligned to this approach and take into account text difficulty, vocabulary, and developmental appropriateness to determine the instructional level of the book. The texts are not leveled according to grade-level reading standards. 

In the guided reading approach, the focus is on the degree of challenge encountered in specific leveled texts that the different groups of students work with based on their reading ability. Teachers do not necessarily have a way to differentiate instruction based on the actual needs and gaps in skills of the differing groups of students since the focus is on grouping around a text rather than for student-specific needs. It could be that students in the lower or middle reading group need different and specific instruction in particular phonics or comprehension strategies to become better readers. 

However, with the focus on the leveled text instead of skill-based, small-group differentiated instruction, evidence shows that struggling readers will often remain struggling readers. 

Studies show that leveled reading groups often widen achievement gaps, can negatively affect social development, and below-benchmark readers were actually worse off than if left ungrouped. Evidence suggests that targeted small groups can work if they are skill-based, and students are grouped flexibly and move through groups fluidly as their needs change. Different groups might be organized around needs in phonemic awareness and letter-sound knowledge, phonics skills, or background knowledge and vocabulary. When done right, students should be moving in and out of groups as they master and progress in various and specific reading skills.

Guided support, or strategic scaffolding, must not be confused with guided reading. In fact, teachers should be choosing grade-level texts and planning explicit instructional cycles that support students as they read more complex, grade-level texts.

An effective way to do this is using a method that gradually releases responsibility so that students can read effectively on their own.

Model of Explicit Instruction

Guided support begins with a teacher’s explicit instruction where the teacher models her thinking while reading a text. During a gradual release of responsibility, the teacher provides specific supports and scaffolds the students’ reading of the text.

For example, the teacher could choose from a myriad of scaffolding tools, such as vocabulary support, opportunities for the students to discuss the ideas in the text, re-reading portions of the text, asking text-dependent questions, and providing graphic organizers to organize and synthesize information. Through these carefully-planned scaffolding tools, teachers consider their students’ development and strategically remove the scaffolds until students can independently navigate a text.

References

Denton, et al., 2014, An Experimental Evaluation of Guided Reading and Explicit Interventions for Primary-Grade Students At-Risk for Reading Difficulties.

Campbell Creates Readers, What’s Wrong With Guided Reading?.

Eduvaites, Leveled Reading Groups Don’t Work. Why Aren’t We Talking About It?