Scaffolding in Practice: How K-3 Teachers Adapt Instruction to Meet the Needs of Students at High Risk of Reading Difficulties

Effective classroom reading instruction leads to better outcomes for all students (Preston et al., 2016). Well-implemented classroom reading instruction should result in at least 80% of the students meeting grade level reading expectations without additional intervention (Al Otaiba et al., 2011; Harlacher et al., 2015). Although research has shown that effective classroom instruction paired with early reading intervention can prevent reading difficulties (Scanlon et al., 2005; Torgesen et al., 2007; Wanzek et al., 2016), many schools struggle to produce the desired results (Balu et al., 2015; Berkeley et al., 2020; Porter et al., 2022). When classroom instruction fails to meet the needs of 80% of students, schools may not be able to provide intervention to support all students who need it due to limited resources (Harlacher et al., 2015; Lane et al., 2018; Maki & Adams, 2020). Effective classroom reading instruction is the “foundation” that is necessary to allow a school to prevent reading difficulties effectively for nearly all students (Al Otaiba et al., 2011, p. 3).

At a rural Title 1 elementary school in Virginia, over 40% of K-2 students and 30% of third-grade students were identified as having a high risk of future reading difficulties by the state early reading screener. This indicates a potential problem with the classroom reading instruction because effective reading instruction should result in fewer than 20% of students needing additional support (Harlacher et al., 2015; Vaughn & Fletcher, 2012).

This capstone study investigated how K-3 classroom teachers support students who are identified as having a high risk of reading difficulties with word recognition skills. Additionally, the study identified factors that facilitate or hinder efforts of classroom teachers to provide word recognition instruction for high-risk students. Findings from the study informed recommendations for administrators to help support teachers’ efforts to meet the needs of students identified as having a high risk of reading difficulties.