Nearly 33% of 8th-grade students are reading below the basic level. These gaps begin early on and continue to affect students throughout their education if not addressed. And the impact is long-lasting and substantial, reflected by the 63% of U.S. 12th-graders who are not proficient in reading, meaning they struggle to understand complex texts and may not have the foundational reading skills needed to easily transition to higher education or the workforce.
Pinedale High School (PHS), located in the Sublette County School District in Wyoming, is a prime example of how science-based literacy strategies can support students of all ages.
High School Students Learn to Hide Reading Struggles
High school students who struggle to read adopt strategies that allow them to get by without foundational literacy skills, making it even more difficult for teachers to identify deficiencies. Simply put, some students know how to hide their gaps, making it easy for them to go unnoticed and unaddressed over time.
While all schools in the Sublette County School District have now adopted early literacy instruction grounded in the science of reading and Structured Literacy, some high school students—who missed out on this approach in their early years—continue to struggle. The district has also undergone a significant demographic shift, further compounding the challenges faced by students at PHS. Complicating matters, most secondary teacher education programs do not equip educators with the skills to teach reading or identify and address literacy gaps effectively.
Structured Literacy as the Key to Literacy Success
Three years ago, Faith Howard joined PHS with a clear purpose: to find impactful ways to support high school students who struggle with reading.
Recognizing that she needed to try something new to better serve her students, Faith turned to Structured Literacy. Her breakthrough came with IMSE’s Morphology+ training. Equipped with evidence-based strategies and tools, Faith launched what is referred to as the “Literacy Lab” at her school, giving struggling students the support they needed to become confident, capable readers.
She prioritized building trust, leading with empathy, and helping each student set goals based on where they were, not where they were expected to be. She reminded them they weren’t alone. The U.S. literacy crisis has left many high school students without the foundational skills they should have gained in their early education, and this simple truth shifted students’ mindsets: their reading challenges weren’t a personal failure—they had not been taught the skills they needed to succeed.
Since few resources are designed specifically for older students, Faith adapted her instruction to be systematic and explicit, grounded in the science of reading and tailored to the core skills her students had missed in elementary school. She made learning relevant and engaging, especially for teens.
Faith’s Literacy Lab and revitalized curriculum had an even greater impact. IMSE didn’t just provide a toolkit—it shifted how the school approached literacy instruction. As more PHS teachers saw the power of these strategies across subjects, they also began to adopt them, fueling a movement toward lasting change.
Since Faith Howard brought IMSE’s Structured Literacy tools to her school, student confidence and reading scores have surged. In the 2021–22 school year, nearly 29% of PHS 9th graders read below a basic level, lacking foundational literacy skills. Just two years later, that number dropped dramatically to just 6.2%. At the same time, the percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced jumped from 51.7% to 80%. And this transformation hasn’t gone unnoticed—as word has spread about the impact of Faith’s Literacy Lab and the power of Structured Literacy, more teachers across the district are eager to take IMSE’s Morphology+ and Orton Gillingham+ training, motivated by the results they’re seeing with Faith’s students.
“Being a leader in literacy means thinking beyond the traditional approach and constantly learning, growing, and adapting to meet your students’ needs,” said Faith. “You have to lead with empathy, recognizing that many students come in with misconceptions and coping strategies to cover gaps in their learning. It’s about helping them unlearn and relearn in a supportive way that makes them feel seen while being honest about where they are without sugarcoating it.”
PHS demonstrates that it is never too late for high school students to develop the foundational reading skills they need. It’s a basic right to learn how to read. We must equip our teachers with the tools they need to close literacy gaps to ensure no student graduates without the skills they need to be successful, not only in school, but in their lives.
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