These despairing words from an 8-year-old student highlight one of the most pressing challenges facing teachers in today’s diverse classrooms: children who struggle to read. Last year, ROL readers indicated in an online survey that a top priority for ROL should be to provide information and resources that help teachers reach students for whom literacy is a challenge. More recently, our readers indicated their strong interest in this topic in response to Nancy Witherell’s review of Richard Allington’s book What Really Matters for Struggling Readers.

We are pleased that our first themed issue focuses on this important topic and hope that you will find the articles noted in the links at right timely and useful. We’d also like to direct your attention to other ROL articles on struggling readers from the journal archives:

Articles in the Themed Issue

• Putting It All Together by Christina van Kraayenoord, Karen B. Moni, and Anne Jobling
• Jumping off the Page by Bart Pisha and Peggy Coyne
• Teaching Vocabulary to Adolescents to Improve Comprehension by Mary E. Curtis and Anne Marie Longo