When most people hear “Science of Reading,” they picture phonics charts, decodable readers, and first graders sounding out c-a-t and d-o-g. And while those things are absolutely part of reading development, they don’t reflect the full picture, especially for those of us who work with older students.

What if I told you that…. The Science of Reading isn’t just for elementary school. And it’s not just about phonics. It’s really about understanding how all humans learn to (but also just) read, in general, and it applies to every grade level.

So, what does it look like when you use Science of Reading research in a middle or high school classroom?

Let’s break it down.

1. Instruction Should Start with Language, Not Literature

When we shift to a Science of Reading lens, we stop seeing comprehension as a “skill” that students either have or don’t. It isn’t something that we need to practice over and over again. Instead, we recognize that comprehension depends on several teachable elements like vocabulary, background knowledge, syntax, and text structure.

In practical terms, this might look like:

• Teaching morphology to help students decode academic vocabulary
• Analyzing how sentence structure affects meaning
• Using short, complex sentences to model reading strategies before applying them to longer texts
• Incorporating oral language routines that build fluency and comprehension

We really need to stop assigning texts and start teaching language. This applies to all content areas too. Think about it. How many of your colleagues in history and science tell the children, “read these chapters tonight” and give zero instruction in how to do that. It doesn’t work that way! Send them this blog post.

2. We Don’t Wait for Intervention to Teach Foundational Skills

In a SoR-aligned secondary classroom, foundational skills aren’t just reserved for interventions. They are a part of the day to day. It isn’t dumbing things down, it is giving our students the tools that they need to comprehend.

If students are struggling with decoding or fluency, we are able to work with them during our Tier 1 instruction because we are constantly incorporating explicit instruction on multisyllabic word reading; using warm-ups to reinforce high-frequency morphemes or sentence patterns; teaching students how to annotate or break down difficult text at the sentence level… among MANY other things.

The SoR-aligned classroom is proactive, by KNOWING that we need to teach these things, not reactive, only putting bandaids on when we see a need. The need is there… know it from the get-go. This is about building legitimate access to the texts from the beginning.

3. Text Complexity Is Supported, Not Assumed

The old model says: “Here’s the text: read it (figure it out on your own and answer the questions so that I know that you did it).” The SoR-aligned model says: “Here’s how to access this complex text. Let me show you so that we can appreciate it together.”

That can include:

• Pre-teaching vocabulary using supplementary materials or focusing on roots and affixes
• Modeling how to decode unfamiliar syntax and academic language
• Using sentence combining or deconstructing as a bridge to meaning
• Discussing genre and structure explicitly so students know what to expect

You’re still using rich, grade-level texts but with the scaffolds that help students truly understand them.

4. Reading Instruction Is Structured, Not Random

Science of Reading research is all about explicit, systematic instruction. That doesn’t mean scripted or rigid, it means intentional.

In secondary ELA, this might look like:

• Building units around cumulative language goals, not just themes
• Layering in word-level, sentence-level, and paragraph-level work before whole-text analysis
• Aligning reading and writing tasks so students practice using the same language structures in both directions
• Teaching comprehension through explicit language supports, not just assigning questions at the end (ugh–don’t do that!)

Instead of hoping students “pick up” reading skills by practicing over and over and over again, BUILD them piece by piece. Who know you could actually TEACH comprehension!?

5. It Honors the Reality of Your Readers

Science of Reading helps us see struggling readers differently. It helps us stop blaming deficits and start teaching with purpose. It says:

• If a student avoids reading, they may not be lazy… they may actually be missing something. Tell yourself: “I can teach them!”
• If a student can’t summarize the text, maybe they couldn’t decode it or understand the sentence structures.
• If comprehension breaks down, ask: Which component of the rope are they struggling with?

SoR gives us the tools to diagnose the breakdown and rebuild the bridge so that they can actually read.

Final Thoughts: SoR in Secondary Isn’t New… It’s actually getting back to basics.

We don’t need to abandon what makes secondary ELA rich and meaningful. We just need to support it with the science that makes reading accessible for all students.

Using the Science of Reading at the secondary level doesn’t mean abandoning novels or writing workshops. We’re not going back to elementary school phonics. We’re simply supporting our students with the instruction that helps every single one of them engage with the texts that we’re already teaching.

Let’s stop thinking of reading as something that’s already been taught and start thinking of it as something we keep teaching with purpose, every single day.

If you want to know more about what this looks like, grab the FREE SoRin2ndary Toolkit for Secondary Teachers

I also have a course designed just for teachers that will walk you through planning your instruction with the science in mind. Join the hundreds of teachers who have already started and Plan your next unit with SoR in Mind.