Reading Intervention for Grades 6-12
An evidence-based and research-proven program developed for middle and high school students.
Experience a literacy program that respects adolescent maturity and boosts engagement, aligned with Multi-Tiered Systems of Support. Our data-driven approach builds reading fluency, vocabulary, and confidence for high school, career, and post-secondary success. Designed for students below grade level, this intervention closes phonics gaps, strengthens multisyllabic word reading, and equips learners to tackle complex texts.
For over 20 years, Really Great Reading has been committed to adolescent literacy with respectful, research-based programs. Originally designed for older students, the Reading Intervention for Grades 6-12 bring together phonics-based decoding with visual vocabulary and comprehension work, enhanced by age-appropriate decodables. Grounded in the Science of Reading, engaging lessons and flexible digital tools simplify learning and teaching, helping teachers grow alongside their students and enabling real, measurable progress.
Delivers measurable progress in a matter of weeks while fostering a proven, more positive attitude toward learning, preventing deeper gaps in learning.
Reinforces critical decoding competencies and builds bridges to reading with user-friendly lessons that maximize classroom time and build educators’ capacity.
Systematic instruction empowers students to become confident, independent readers, ready to tackle complex academic texts.
A blend of visuals, manipulatives, decodable books, and digital experiences captivates students while they master new skills, preventing further harmful delays.
Clear, actionable assessments and scaffolded lessons help educators identify skill gaps and deliver targeted instruction, supporting effective, tiered literacy intervention within an MTSS framework.
Built-in training, coaching opportunities, clear guidance, and aligned resources remove barriers, strengthen educator practice, and ensure students stay on track toward literacy goals.
Decoding for Fluency
Incorporating our ESSA-proven literacy solution, HD Word, the program employs an explicit approach to address decoding challenges in secondary, respectful of learners’ maturity and interests.
- Flexible Implementation: Print, digital, and multimodal practice opportunities support small-group and one-on-one sessions
- Made for Today’s Learners: Systematic phonics instruction builds students’ ability to decode complex words, making advanced word learning accessible
- Cumulative Practice: Extensive review and reinforcement of taught concepts lead to stronger retention and application across subject areas
- Turning Time into Impact: Built-in support, micro-PD, and flexible digital tool maximize every minute of instructional time
Vocabulary Made Visual
To promote deep word learning, RGR’s intervention incorporates InferCabulary, a visual vocabulary program that cultivates the robust vocabulary necessary for success at school and beyond.
- Targeted Learning: Strategically connects words with concepts by front-loading target vocabulary and utilizing semantic reasoning, to support deeper meaning, critical thinking, and comprehensive understanding
- Integrated Approach: Direct instruction in inferencing and summarization builds skills and confidence
- Extensive Word Library: 500+ literature titles and a variety of word categories, including 600+ SAT words, customizable to meet specific goals
- Leveraging Words that Matter: Target words can be selected by grade level, literature title, or subject, and easily extracted from any website, digital file or curricula, saving planning time
Comprehension with Confidence
A core part of the adolescent intervention is the Hidden Gems, a chapter book series with identity-rich narratives that pass the backpack test and integrate explicit instruction in vocabulary, morphology, summarization, and sentence structure.
- Vocabulary and Morphology in Context: Tier II, content-specific terms, and morphemes enhance decoding, word-building, and comprehension
- Structured, Engaging Practice: Partner discussions, oral summaries, group work, and sentence-level exercises promote fluency, syntactic awareness, and authentic language use
- Rigorous Routines: Systematic notetaking, evidence citation, summarization, and analysis of character motivation foster habits of precision and critical thinking
- Confidence and Voice: Repeated readings, performance, and peer coaching help students master pitch, expression, and phrasing, building a genuine love of reading
Assessment Fuels Growth
The program’s built-in, reliable assessments help teachers quickly identify skill gaps and adjust instruction in real time without extensive prep or training, while simple-to-interpret reports and data insights enable teachers to make real-time instructional decisions and track student growth. Aligned with the curriculum, the program's embedded assessments provide actionable insights, making it simple to identify gaps and support every learner. Combined with the Grouping Matrix, a powerful tool that makes data-driven grouping easy, the assessments streamline data analysis and intervention planning.
- Mastery measurement offers visibility and peace of mind
- Input, analysis, and tracking of progress data made easy
- Supports MTSS, intervention planning, and differentiation
Multilingual Learner Supports
Learning to speak and read in a new language can be challenging. That’s why RGR offers easy-to-use digital and printable resources helping all learners, including those new to English, build foundational skills and connect language development to reading comprehension.
Multilingual students, from newcomers to long-term English learners, thrive on the path to English literacy with this effective intervention.
By focusing on learners’ strengths and offering explicit instruction, scaffolded practice, and culturally responsive materials, our program ensures adolescent ELs gain the confidence, language skills, and comprehension strategies needed to build their way to English language and literacy proficiency and thrive beyond academics!
Incorporating our ESSA-proven literacy solution, HD Word, the program employs an explicit approach to address decoding challenges in secondary, respectful of learners’ maturity and interests.
- Flexible Implementation: Print, digital, and multimodal practice opportunities support small-group and one-on-one sessions
- Made for Today’s Learners: Systematic phonics instruction builds students’ ability to decode complex words, making advanced word learning accessible
- Cumulative Practice: Extensive review and reinforcement of taught concepts lead to stronger retention and application across subject areas
- Turning Time into Impact: Built-in support, micro-PD, and flexible digital tool maximize every minute of instructional time
To promote deep word learning, RGR’s intervention incorporates InferCabulary, a visual vocabulary program that cultivates the robust vocabulary necessary for success at school and beyond.
- Targeted Learning: Strategically connects words with concepts by front-loading target vocabulary and utilizing semantic reasoning, to support deeper meaning, critical thinking, and comprehensive understanding
- Integrated Approach: Direct instruction in inferencing and summarization builds skills and confidence
- Extensive Word Library: 500+ literature titles and a variety of word categories, including 600+ SAT words, customizable to meet specific goals
- Leveraging Words that Matter: Target words can be selected by grade level, literature title, or subject, and easily extracted from any website, digital file or curricula, saving planning time
A core part of the adolescent intervention is the Hidden Gems, a chapter book series with identity-rich narratives that pass the backpack test and integrate explicit instruction in vocabulary, morphology, summarization, and sentence structure.
- Vocabulary and Morphology in Context: Tier II, content-specific terms, and morphemes enhance decoding, word-building, and comprehension
- Structured, Engaging Practice: Partner discussions, oral summaries, group work, and sentence-level exercises promote fluency, syntactic awareness, and authentic language use
- Rigorous Routines: Systematic notetaking, evidence citation, summarization, and analysis of character motivation foster habits of precision and critical thinking
- Confidence and Voice: Repeated readings, performance, and peer coaching help students master pitch, expression, and phrasing, building a genuine love of reading
The program’s built-in, reliable assessments help teachers quickly identify skill gaps and adjust instruction in real time without extensive prep or training, while simple-to-interpret reports and data insights enable teachers to make real-time instructional decisions and track student growth. Aligned with the curriculum, the program's embedded assessments provide actionable insights, making it simple to identify gaps and support every learner. Combined with the Grouping Matrix, a powerful tool that makes data-driven grouping easy, the assessments streamline data analysis and intervention planning.
- Mastery measurement offers visibility and peace of mind
- Input, analysis, and tracking of progress data made easy
- Supports MTSS, intervention planning, and differentiation
Learning to speak and read in a new language can be challenging. That’s why RGR offers easy-to-use digital and printable resources helping all learners, including those new to English, build foundational skills and connect language development to reading comprehension.
Multilingual students, from newcomers to long-term English learners, thrive on the path to English literacy with this effective intervention.
By focusing on learners’ strengths and offering explicit instruction, scaffolded practice, and culturally responsive materials, our program ensures adolescent ELs gain the confidence, language skills, and comprehension strategies needed to build their way to English language and literacy proficiency and thrive beyond academics!
Curious About Implementation or Pricing?
We don’t just hand you tools. We work alongside you to use them with purpose and precision. You get a partner who understands your goals and helps you reach them.
Engaging digital and tactile practice allows students to see, hear, touch, and actively apply concepts through a variety of sensory experiences, promoting deeper understanding so learning is retained long-term and transfers confidently to real-world reading and comprehension.
Language-based instruction and embedded semantic reasoning techniques that pair critical-thinking, visual examples and pictures from which learners infer meaning, the program reinforces meanings in context and builds lasting vocabulary skills, essential for reading comprehension.
Captivating, relatable stories engage learners while lessons target key decoding skills—vowel teams, digraphs, schwa syllables, multisyllabic patterns—within rich, complex narratives that integrate phonics meaningfully to challenge and motivate older struggling readers.
A high-impact, low-prep toolkit simplifies teaching with ready-to-use lesson plans, engaging animations, and clear routines, helping educators teach with fidelity, maintain pace, and explain concepts effectively in minutes.
A smart resource hub gives educators instant access to essential tools, enabling them to search, save, and revisit materials without interrupting instruction, ensuring lessons stay on track while providing a smarter way to support learning.
Flexible onsite and virtual PD provides coaching, data reviews, and practical strategies that build consistency. Real-time support and micro-PD embedded in lessons offer in-the-moment guidance educators can use immediately.
Teaching reading is a science, and we know what works. For decades, educators, researchers, and policymakers have highlighted the persistent literacy crisis in the U.S. The latest NAEP scores confirm we are still failing far too many students. But these scores also tell us something important:
- Most reading failure is preventable and addressable
- The scores are not a rejection of the Science of Reading—they reveal the consequences of incomplete understanding and implementation
- When properly applied, research-backed practices work, and they work fast
Watch our webinar and download the whitepaper to address misconceptions about the Science of Reading in your district.
Adolescent readers are supported with digital practice in a platform designed specifically for middle and high school students. The Reading Arcade delivers intentional, research-aligned decoding and word-level practice that reinforces RGR’s secondary interventions, without feeling elementary or remedial. As students practice independently, progress monitoring happens automatically, giving teachers immediate insight to adjust instruction and target individual needs with precision.
Boost, our intensive intervention for grades 4-12, offers mature, slower‑paced instruction that combines research‑based strategies and hands‑on learning to strengthen phonics, fluency, and comprehension through purposeful repetition and practice.
- Flexible Settings: Small-group or one-on-one RTI Tier III intervention for readers who need substantial support, special education, and learners with dyslexia
- Students Gain a Wealth of Skills: Simple and complex unfamiliar word reading, practical strategies for reading multisyllabic words without rule memorization, basic and advanced phonics and phonemic awareness skills, fluency with controlled and non-controlled text
- Educators at the Core: Minimal prep time for teachers, with comprehensive support, ready-to-teach lessons, and professional tips for effective implementation
In just five weeks, struggling seventh graders in Jackson turned their reading challenges into triumphs. Through intensive interventions using Really Great Reading's intervention solutions, reading accuracy soared 61%, from 31% to 92%. This rapid progress highlights the power of RGR’s tools to deliver measurable results in a short timeframe.
From 31% to 92%: a rapid improvement in reading accuracy.
Students using our vocabulary program, InferCabulary, in a large-scale, multi-state 2022 study were able to learn more words, 3-4 times faster than students who participated in direct instruction groups. This proved true for students with diagnosed learning disabilities, students in RTI, and those who do not struggle. The study revealed that students who used InferCabulary independently outperformed general education students who had received business-as-usual instruction.
What grades is the program appropriate for?
RGR’s adolescent literacy intervention was developed to address the phonics, vocabulary, and comprehension deficits of adolescent learners in grades 6-12.
Phonics and decoding skills are essential prerequisites for strong reading comprehension because they enable students to accurately and automatically recognize words, freeing up cognitive resources to focus on understanding the meaning of the text. Without these foundational skills, students struggle to decode unfamiliar words, which disrupts the flow of reading and impedes comprehension. Research shows that deficits in phonics and decoding prohibit progress not only in ELA but also across subject areas, since reading is integral to learning in all content areas. For example, difficulties in decoding can hinder students’ ability to access content in science, social studies, and mathematics, where subject-specific vocabulary and complex texts are common. Therefore, strong phonics, decoding, and vocabulary skills are critical for academic success across the secondary curriculum.
What components are included in the program?
RGR’s reading intervention for middle and high school includes:
- HD Word: A systematic, explicit, multi-sensory decoding intervention, teaching phonics to older students
- InferCabulary: A visual vocabulary program that accelerates vocabulary acquisition and comprehension
- Decodable Chapter Books: Age-appropriate, mature decodable texts aligned with HD Word’s scope and sequence
- HD Word Skills Assessments: Tools for progress monitoring and identifying student needs
- Educator Training: In-person or virtual training designed for teachers of adolescent struggling readers, even those without prior Science of Reading experience
What makes Really Great Reading’s decodable texts different from others on the market?
Unlike many decodable books that feel babyish, are oriented for elementary students, or are retrofitted for older students, RGR’s Hidden Gems decodables are mature, aesthetically appropriate, and culturally diverse. These efficient reading tools for struggling readers are specifically aligned with HD Word, making it easy for teachers to reinforce targeted phonics patterns and help students transfer these skills to more complex academic reading.
How does RGR’s Reading Intervention for Grades 6-12 differ from interventions for younger students?
Unlike early elementary interventions, this program uses age-appropriate decodable chapter books and materials tailored to older students, respecting their interests and maturity, ensuring that content is both accessible and engaging for adolescents while still focusing on essential reading skills. This approach ensures that adolescents receive explicit, systematic phonics and decoding instruction validated by decades of research in the Science of Reading, in a format that is relevant, motivating, and accessible for their developmental stage. In short, the result is a program that not only builds essential reading skills but also fosters confidence and engagement in older readers, making RGR’s Reading Intervention for Grades 6-12 one of the best reading interventions for middle and high school students.
How does the program teach vocabulary and deepen word understanding?
Vocabulary instruction is a central component of the intervention. HD Word lessons introduce Tier 2 academic vocabulary using InferCabulary, which presents words in multiple contexts with images and captions. This approach helps students understand nuanced and figurative meanings, teaches semantically related words, and encourages connections between words and concepts. Multi-contextual vocabulary practice ensures students develop a robust and flexible understanding of new words.
What makes Really Great Reading’s Reading Intervention for Grades 6–12 different from other literacy interventions?
Our program is specifically designed for adolescent learners, addressing the unique challenges older students face with reading. While the foundational principles—like decoding and phonics—are rooted in the science of reading and remain consistent across all ages, this program uses age-appropriate, engaging materials such as decodable chapter books with interesting, adolescent-friendly themes and sophisticated storytelling. The curriculum goes beyond basic decoding to include direct instruction in vocabulary, inferencing, summarization, sentence structure, and academic language, ensuring students not only read words but develop the needed strategies to tackle complex texts.
Is Boost part of the Reading Intervention for Grades 6-12 bundle?
No, Boost is a separate Tier III intervention for students who need a slower pace due to significant learning disabilities. While not included in the standard Reading Intervention for Grades 6-12, schools may choose to add Boost based on student assessment outcomes.
What is the recommended time of daily instruction?
We recommend 60 minutes of daily instruction:
- Direct instruction: 20 minutes
- Practice to Mastery: 10 minutes
- Vocabulary practice: 15 minutes
- Decodable chapter books: 10 minutes
- Assessment: 5-10 minutes weekly
However, we know that the needs of each student, classroom, school, and district are unique, so our literacy partners work directly with your team to ensure a successful, flexible, and impactful implementation of the solution, no matter the frequency or length of your intervention sessions.
Where can I find a sample of the lessons that accompany the decodables?
Here’s a downloadable sample lesson
Can any teacher implement the intervention, or is specialized training required?
Any educator can implement this Intervention. The program is designed to be teacher-friendly, with scripted lessons, built-in tools, and minimal prep time required. Training is included to help educators, regardless of their background in literacy instruction, successfully deliver the intervention while improving their understanding and implementation of the Science of Reading.
Is the program RTI-based?
Yes, the Reading Intervention for Grades 6-12 is RTI-based and supports a tiered intervention structure. The phonics and decoding components of the program, HD Word, were designed to be flexibly implemented across RTI tiers, ranging from Tier 1/whole-class instruction to Tiers 2 and 3 for students who are starting to fall behind and learners with specific or mild decoding weaknesses respectively.
Additionally, the placement into the intervention is driven by diagnostic assessments, including the Beginning and Advanced Decoding Surveys, Oral Reading Fluency assessments (ORF), and the Grouping Matrix, a practice consistent with RTI models. Frequent formative assessments also support the RTI cycle of screening, instruction, and monitoring.
The program is intensively focused on foundational skills, including phonemic awareness, decoding, and vocabulary, making it a strong RTI-aligned option for students requiring support in these areas.
Does the program support implementation within a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS)?
Yes, our adolescent literacy intervention supports implementation within a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS). Here’s how the program provides a full continuum of support, allowing educators to respond to student needs within the MTSS framework:
- Universal Screening and Targeted Supports: The program offers comprehensive diagnostic tools (e.g., decoding surveys, vocabulary assessments) and provides structured supports across all three tiers of MTSS.
- Tiered Instructional Options: It can be flexibly implemented across Tiers 1, 2, and 3
- Additional Tools and Structures: Scaffolded instruction routines (e.g., “I Do, We Do, You Do”), built-in formative assessment, differentiated practice opportunities through both digital and print-based materials, multisensory instruction for diverse learners
How does the program strengthen comprehension skills?
The Reading Intervention for Grades 6–12 combines foundational decoding instruction as well as development of comprehension strategies and higher-level language, in a program designed to accelerate reading growth for adolescents. The program reflects and applies the recommendations and findings from relevant research literature on reading comprehension, offering an integrated and evidence-based path to build higher-level language skills.
Here are some of the strategies and resources for teaching reading comprehension the program employs:
- Purposeful re-reading in the Hidden Gems decodables provides mature students with intentional opportunities to practice skills across decoding, vocabulary, comprehension, and expression, leading to improved fluency—accuracy, automaticity, and prosody—and deeper comprehension.
- In parallel, focused grammar and syntax work helps students understand how sentence structure creates meaning, supporting both reading and writing skills. Frontloading words with semantic reasoning helps get students ready to use and understand them deeply, while vocabulary and morphology are taught through visuals and repeated encounters in connected text, making instruction functional and connected to comprehension.
Have RGR’s programs been evaluated for their efficacy by external examiners or third parties?
Yes! RGR programs are ESSA-validated and grounded in the Science of Reading. Our foundational literacy programs meet ESSA’s rigorous Tier II criteria and have received all green, near-perfect scores on independent reviews from EdReports.
The Reading League, a trusted authority in the Science of Reading literacy instruction, has also thoroughly evaluated our programs and found no "red flags" in the areas our programs are designed to address: Word Recognition, Phonological and Phoneme Awareness, Phonics and Phonic Decoding, Fluency, Handwriting, and Spelling.
These external validations highlight the effectiveness of RGR’s literacy programs in building strong, capable readers. Our tools are designed to meet high standards and deliver real results.
Learn more about our product efficacy!
Does the program prepare students for post-secondary pathways and career-related literacy tasks?
Yes! The Reading Intervention for Grades 6-12 is designed for students who read below grade level and those who are at risk of not meeting College- and Career-Ready Standards (CCRS) and supports CTE-readiness outcomes.
With a focus on foundational gaps, this intervention directly addresses decoding, fluency, and vocabulary gaps that hinder access to complex grade-level texts—critical for CCRS alignment. The integrated vocabulary solution systematically builds Tier 2 vocabulary using semantic reasoning, visual supports, and contextual examples, which are also emphasized in CCRS. Additionally, the intervention cultivates transferable literacy skills, morphological analysis for understanding domain-specific terminology, oral reading and comprehension skills to support access to CTE and core content areas.
To achieve academic success, adolescents must be able to read and comprehend content across a variety of subject areas, skills that are fundamental for both present and future learning. RGR’s intervention equips learners with the skills required for success in high school coursework, career pathways, and post-secondary education, enabling students to fully engage with complex texts in every discipline, setting them on a path toward lasting achievement.
What is the cost of the Reading Intervention for Grades 6-12?
For detailed pricing information, including bundle options and licensing, please contact our team at [email protected] or 866-401-7323, or request a quote.
Is there a free trial available for the program?
Free trials are available for: