Math Teachers Integrate Reading Skills to Address Literacy Gaps in Middle Schools
At Cloquet Middle School in Minnesota, math teacher Alexis Sorenson is using Greek language roots to teach algebraic expressions, a strategy aimed at improving students' reading skills alongside math comprehension. This approach is part of a broader initiative where teachers across various subjects are trained to support foundational reading skills. The school has implemented universal screening to identify gaps in phonics and fluency, allowing teachers to tailor their instruction to address these deficiencies. This initiative has led to a significant reduction in the number of students at high risk for reading comprehension issues, dropping from 15% to 4% among 8th graders. The program emphasizes the importance of understanding vocabulary and linguistic roots, which has shown to improve both reading and content comprehension. 
