Are Reading Levels Holding Students Back? with Tim Shanahan
For years, teachers have been told to meet students where they are—find their instructional reading level, put them in a just-right text, and group them with other students reading at a similar level.
But what if that approach is actually limiting how much students can learn?
In this episode of Route2Reading, I sit down with literacy researcher and author Dr. Tim Shanahan to talk about reading levels, small-group instruction, grade-level text, and what the research actually tells us about supporting struggling readers.
Tim brings nearly 60 years of experience in reading education to this conversation—as a classroom teacher, reading specialist, professor, researcher, and former Director of Reading for Chicago Public Schools.
In This Episode, We Talk About:
Why small-group instruction isn't automatically better than whole-group instruction
When small groups are valuable—and when we may be overusing them
Why students who are successful with Tier 1 instruction don't necessarily need additional small-group instruction
The history behind the idea of an "instructional reading level"
Why matching students to easier texts can unintentionally limit their opportunities to grow
What it really means to give struggling readers access to grade-level text
How teachers can scaffold challenging text instead of replacing it with easier text
Why fluency practice before reading a challenging text can dramatically reduce reading errors
How vocabulary, sentence structure, cohesion, pronouns, and background knowledge can create difficulty for readers
Why teachers need to identify what is making a particular text difficult rather than simply labeling the entire text "too hard"
What schools should do if their reading instruction has traditionally been organized around leveled libraries and guided-reading groups
A Few Big Takeaways
Small groups should have a purpose.
Instead of requiring every student to rotate through a teacher-led small group simply because it is "small-group time," Tim encourages teachers to use small groups strategically. If several students didn't master something during whole-group instruction, pull them back and give them another opportunity to learn it.
Grade-level text doesn't mean removing support.
Giving students access to grade-level text doesn't mean handing a struggling reader a difficult passage and expecting them to figure it out alone.
The teacher is part of the equation.
Students may need decoding practice, repeated reading, fluency support, vocabulary preparation, help unpacking complex sentences, or explicit instruction in following cohesion across a text.
The goal isn't to make the text easier.
The goal is to provide enough support for students to successfully engage with the text.
One of My Favorite Takeaways
“Frustration does not come from working with a hard text. Frustration comes from working with a hard text on your own with no support.”
That distinction matters.
When we consistently protect struggling readers from challenging text, we may also protect them from some of the very learning opportunities they need to close the gap.
Instead of asking:
“What level can this student read?”
Maybe we should be asking:
“What support does this student need to successfully read the text we want them to learn from?”
For Schools Ready to Move Away From Reading Levels
Tim's advice isn't to throw away your leveled books.
The books aren't the problem.
The problem is allowing a level to determine which books certain students are permitted to read and what content they're given an opportunity to learn.
Changing that starts with supporting teachers, helping them understand the research, and giving them practical tools for scaffolding challenging text.
This isn't about blaming teachers for practices they were taught to use.
It's about changing our instruction as the research changes—and giving more students access to the reading opportunities they deserve.
Connect with Tim Shanahan:
Website: https://www.shanahanonliteracy.com
Want More?
Explore more Science of Reading PD, decodables, small-group planning tools, coaching sessions, and literacy resources at Route2Reading inside the Literacy Edventures Membership.
