More than 50% of sixth-grade students at an urban middle school in the Southeastern United States scored below the 50th percentile (B50PR) of expected student outcomes on the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Growth reading assessment. The problem to addressed in this study was that many sixth-grade students in the United States lack proficiency in reading. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore sixth-grade teachers' perspectives regarding cognitive reading strategies used in support of students who score B50PR on the MAP Growth reading assessment. Resnick's cognitive theory of instruction was the conceptual framework for this study and the basis for three research questions regarding teachers' use of recall of prior knowledge, application of metacognitive strategies, and assimilation of new text-based knowledge into the student's existing knowledge base, when teaching struggling readers. Purposeful sampling was used to recruit 10 sixth-grade language arts, social studies, science, and mathematics general education teachers. Data were collected through semistructured interviews, then coded and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results showed that teachers across all academic subject areas described using cognitive reading strategies, suggesting that teachers have the knowledge and the skills to use these strategies in their instruction of struggling readers. Future research should further explore how teachers implement strategies that help struggling readers and which cognitive reading strategies are the most effective with B50PR students. Positive social change may result from this study if teachers are inspired and supported to address the reading struggles of students by using the cognitive reading strategies described in this study. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]