Adolescent struggling readers in urban schools: Results of a Latent Class Analysis

In this study, our goal was to identify unique clusters of Adolescent Struggling Readers (ASRs) and examine the reading skill profiles each cluster presented. We assessed 319 students attending urban schools on three standardized measures of reading comprehension and eight standardized measures of component skills, including vocabulary, listening comprehension, word- and text-level reading accuracy and fluency. The mean age of the students was 14.9 years, and they were entering 9th grade students. Using Latent Class Analysis (LCA), we identified four empirically distinct levels of reading comprehension and classified a subsample of students as below-average comprehenders (n = 195). Within this subsample, we performed a second LCA that identified five subgroups with distinct profiles of component skills. These results suggest a great deal of heterogeneity in strengths and weaknesses of component reading skills within the ASR group, implying the need for diagnostic assessment and differentiated intervention.

Research Highlights
► This study differentiates various subgroups of struggling adolescent learners.
► Struggling readers may have weakness in comprehension, fluency and word skills.
► The two lowest skilled readers have severe to moderate global weaknesses.
► There is a great deal of heterogeneity in the reading skills of urban readers.