I thought my students were following John Steinbeck’s The Pearl. We were near the end, and everything seemed to click until one of my multilingual learners raised her hand and asked, “What’s a pearl?”
She had read every word, but without the background knowledge to attach meaning, the story itself was lost.
As a middle school ELA teacher, that moment changed how I thought about reading.
For years, many secondary teachers, including me, believed the Science of Reading belonged in elementary classrooms. Yet research and classroom reality show something different: the same skills that help young readers learn to read also help adolescents read to learn.
And the best part? We can start right where we are, without a new program or extra class period. The Science of Reading gives us a shared language for noticing where students struggle and identifying why. One of the most useful ways to visualize that work is through a simple but powerful metaphor: reading as a rope.
Understanding the Reading Rope
Dr. Hollis Scarborough’s Reading Rope approach to literacy instruction shows that skilled reading is built from two main strands:
- Upper strands: Language comprehension, including vocabulary, background knowledge, syntax, and reasoning.
- Lower strands: Word recognition, including decoding, fluency, and automatic word reading.
When both strands are strong, reading feels effortless. When one frays, comprehension unravels. So, when it comes to diagnosing students’ reading needs, Scarborough’s Rope helps us identify where students are stuck and what kind of support they need.
Instead of saying, “My student can’t read,” we can say, “My student needs more background knowledge,” or “My student is struggling with vocabulary.” That shift replaces potential frustration with focus and turns a label into a plan.
Once we can see which strand is fraying, we can choose routines that strengthen it. These patterns show up everywhere, from analyzing graphs in science to reading case studies in civics, so the rope applies across every content area.
The same skills that help young readers learn to read also help adolescents read to learn.
Bridging Words and Meaning
Fluency isn’t just for early grades. It is the bridge that connects word recognition to understanding. When students at any grade level read smoothly and accurately, their brains have more space to think about what they are reading instead of how to read it. In this way, fluency frees up working memory. Without it, even older students can get stuck decoding word by word and never reach real comprehension.
That is why quick, intentional fluency routines are just as important in secondary classrooms as they are in the early grades. You can build fluency into what you already do, and it doesn’t need to take more than a few minutes. Try one of these tomorrow:
- Start with the learning target. Read it aloud, then have students echo or choral read it. Ask, “What does this mean in your own words?”
- Practice with directions. Before a science lab or activity, read the directions aloud while students follow along. It builds fluency and ensures clarity.
- Listen and follow along. Read aloud or play a short audio clip while students track the text with a pen or pencil. For secondary students, this feels more age-appropriate than finger-tracking and helps reduce unnecessary feelings of inadequacy for striving readers.
- Partner read. Students alternate short sections of text, even just a paragraph or two.
- Talk about it. End by asking, “What was this mostly about?”
When we embed fluency into existing classroom tasks like directions, warm-ups, or exit tickets, it feels purposeful rather than like one more thing. Building fluency is not about speed; it is about freeing students’ minds to focus on meaning. That is what turns day-to-day reading practice into understanding.
To save time and extend practice, digital tools like Microsoft Reading Coach can give students personalized fluency feedback and allow teachers to monitor progress without adding to their workload.
Invite students to reflect on how fluent reading changes their understanding. When students notice their own growth, motivation follows and they begin to approach complex text with confidence instead of avoidance.
Strengthening Comprehension Strands
Even strong decoders can struggle with comprehension. Often, the breakdown is in the upper strands of the rope as students are untangling complex sentences and building background knowledge and vocabulary.
In history class, for example, a student might read, “Not only did the reforms fail to improve conditions, but they also intensified opposition to the regime,” and assume the reforms worked. They can read fluently but miss the logic when they encounter complex syntax.
Try this: Ask students to paraphrase or mark conjunctions such as “although,” “because,” and “but.” Seeing relationships between ideas clarifies meaning.
Once we can see which strand is fraying, we can choose routines that strengthen it.
When my student asked, “What’s a pearl?” during our Steinbeck lesson, I realized that comprehension also depends on more than what students bring to the text. It depends on what we build together.
Students’ background knowledge is not always complete or accurate. Relying only on what some students know can leave others behind or even reinforce misconceptions. Instead, we need to create shared, accurate knowledge before reading so that every student starts from the same foundation.
Try this: Preview two or three key terms or ideas before reading, especially ones with cultural or contextual weight. Show a brief image, video, or visual connection and ask students to turn and talk about what they learned. Even a single minute of intentional knowledge-building can unlock an entire text.
These quick supports help all students and are especially powerful for multilingual learners because they ensure everyone has the background needed to make meaning.
Building Your Tier 1 Toolbox
Once we know which strand of the rope needs strengthening, the next question is practical: What do we do about it in real classrooms? A Tier 1 Toolbox answers that question by bringing together a small set of universal routines that support every reader. These go-to practices can be applied across grade levels and subjects:
- Fluency: Partner or choral read during warm-up
- Vocabulary: Word preview or morphology check before reading
- Syntax: Unpack one complex sentence during reading
- Background knowledge: Quick visual or context chat before reading
- Comprehension: “What’s this mostly about?” share after reading
Start small. Choose one or two of these routines and make them consistent. Small habits add up to big gains. If you plan together as a team, choosing one shared routine can give students consistent literacy support in every class.
Building Equity and Access for Every Learner
Think about one student who reads the words but misses the meaning. Which strand of the rope might be fraying?
Pick one quick fix, a fluency warm-up, a word preview, or a background hook, and try it tomorrow. You can even track progress informally by listening for accuracy, phrasing, and expression during short re-reads, or by asking for a one-sentence summary afterward.
The goal is not speed but understanding. Fluent reading sounds natural, reflects comprehension, and helps students connect meaning across sentences—with no extra grading required.
Building shared knowledge and embedding reading routines in every classroom creates more equitable access to complex texts. These approaches help multilingual learners, struggling readers, and even high-performing students engage more deeply with ideas instead of just words.
When every teacher sees themselves as a literacy teacher, every student gains another opportunity to understand.
Which strand of the rope will you strengthen first?