The Heart of the Matter

With an unusual systemwide approach, the Jefferson County, Ky., school district is tackling poor reading skills among high school students.

Louisville, Ky.

Some curious problems have cropped up here recently at Iroquois High School, known more for its tough student population than academic achievement. Books go missing from classroom libraries packed with classic texts and popular paperbacks. Students tussle for a turn to read the latest selection from a favorite book series. In mathematics class and science lab, teachers find themselves chiding students to put away teenage novels and poetry collections and focus on the lessons at hand.

Educators at Iroquois High have never before had to wrestle books out of students’ hands. With most incoming freshmen in any given year identified as struggling readers, getting students to read anything, even for pleasure, has been hard enough. But since Iroquois set out a few years ago to tackle students’ literacy needs more directly and systematically, their reading skills—and motivation to read—have grown, teachers and administrators say.

“If you do the math—we have 1,200 kids, 75 percent on free and reduced lunch, 16 percent in special education, and 60 percent of freshmen read on a 4th to 6th grade level—we have a huge reading problem,” said...