How to teach high school students who cannot read
High school teachers are expected to deliver grade-level curriculum to students who do not know the alphabet or cannot spell their names. Without one-on-one support or adequate resources, teachers cannot simultaneously provide required IEP accommodations, manage the rest of the classroom, and teach foundational literacy.
Core Friction Pattern
Analysis of 7 peer accounts across online developer and community forums reveals that “How to teach high school students who cannot read” repeatedly surfaces due to edge-case mismatches between standard defaults and real-world environments. Standard troubleshooting frequently falls short, compelling practitioners to develop custom workarounds.
+4 alternative community-tested workarounds cataloged below.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
How to teach high school students who cannot read
- 1Trying to balance IEP accommodations independently while managing the rest of the classDid this help you?
- 2Documenting students who do not tryDid this help you?
- 3Relying on audiobooks and screen readers when students can comprehend contentDid this help you?
- 4Trying to teach foundational basics to older students individuallyDid this help you?
- 5Venturing online to vent frustration and seek validation from peersDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I know the page and a half IEP provides support, but it isn't realistic for the teacher to provide all of those accommodations and modifications by themselves while doing the same for the other third of the class that also has an IEP”source ↗
“I have students who can’t even spell their names, much less rattle off the main idea of a paragraph they can’t even read.”source ↗
“I kid you not, I had to teach a TWELVE YEAR OLD the order of the months not too long ago.”source ↗
“He didn't know the alphabet either.”source ↗
“90% of his classmates can't even read an analog clock.”source ↗
“Kids who don't even know the alphabet shouldn't be making it past first or second grade, yet our fucked up system just passes them along year after year.”source ↗
“I was about to rip my hair out after about 5 minutes of trying to work with this kid.”source ↗
“I have a student who can't read and also can't use a computer for some reason, and needs more 1-1 from me.”source ↗
“I don't have the hours necessary to hold them all back.”source ↗
“I do have a number of students with undiagnosed learning disabilities.”source ↗
“I teach reading intervention so I do have older kids that can’t read and two that don’t know the whole alphabet”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2Lesson ideas for teaching English to pre-literate kids
- 9Teaching grade level standards when students are extremely behind
- 10Why won't students do the reading assignments?
- 69Why are students coming to class missing basic foundational skills?
- 6Why do mandated teaching methods fail in the classroom?
- 7Why do my students refuse to read directions?