At the minimum, one of every four middle school students will struggle to cope with the grade-level textbooks they are typically assigned to read. Few reading programs used in middle schools have any research evidence that they actually improve student reading proficiencies. Only three programs had even modest evidence of a positive effect, and none of these three targeted decoding proficiencies as the primary problem. There seems to be no reliable research evidence available for over 100 commonly used commercial reading programs. In lieu of using a commercial reading program, Allington offers five research-based principles for providing effective middle school reading instruction, both across the school day and during intervention sessions.