The Top 5 Mistakes That Are Keeping Your Students from Reading on Grade Level

You’re working hard. You’re doing what you were taught. So why aren’t your students catching up?

It might not be you, it might be the system you were trained in. Here are 5 common mistakes that even the best teachers make (and how to fix them):

1. ❌ Grouping by “reading level” instead of skill need
2. ❌ Assuming older students don’t need phonics
3. ❌ Using comprehension strategies before word recognition is mastered
4. ❌ Relying on “leveled readers” instead of decodable texts
5. ❌ Not monitoring progress frequently enough to adjust instruction

Let’s flip these mistakes into momentum. We’ve helped thousands of educators build reading success from the ground up, starting with real talk and real tools.

Reading growth is possible for every student and it starts when we unlearn what doesn’t work and lean into what does.