What’s Missing from Teachers’ Toolkits to Support Student Reading in Grades 3–8: Findings from the RAND American Teacher Panel

In this report, researchers explore U.S. public school teachers’ perceptions of students’ difficulties with reading in grades 3–8, those teachers’ knowledge about how students learn to read, their experiences supporting these readers, and what they need to help students become proficient readers. The findings highlight the importance of including teachers in upper elementary and middle school grades in resource development and allocation and offer guidance to policymakers designing or implementing reading instruction reforms. According to a nationally representative sample of U.S. grade 3–8 teachers across all subjects, teachers estimate that 44 percent of their students always or nearly always experience difficulty reading the written content within their instructional materials. About 40 percent hold misconceptions about how students develop word-reading skills, and nearly half of teachers in these grades report that their primary source of knowledge about reading instruction comes from their personal experiences in the classroom. Almost three-quarters of teachers in grades 3–8 say that they need access to more resources to identify and support students with reading difficulties.