Teachers’ Utilization of Innovative Reading Program to Address Struggling Readers in Garchitorena District

This study aimed to determine the utilization of innovative reading programs by teachers to support struggling readers in Garchitorena district. A mixed-method explanatory sequential design was employed, combining quantitative surveys, qualitative focus group discussion (FGD), and key informant interviews (KII). The researcher computed the percentage of answered indicators with responses of 4 on teachers’ professional competence, methods, and strategies used in the Project RIPARU and Project MMK,while the Wilcoxon signed test was used to analyze students’ reading performance. 17 struggling students from Bahi National High School and 29 students from Pambuhan National High School were the respondents in this study. Additionally, FGD and key informant interviews (KII) solicited 8 students’ and 2 school heads’ responses on the effectiveness of the innovative reading programs. The results highlighted that teachers with professional competence significantly improved students’ reading ability, while teachers without relevant training and seminar and language expertise were found to be less competent reading teachers. However, further training is recommended due to the slight improvement in students’ reading behavior, indicating a need to adapt reading approaches continuously. Thus, the study revealed that the Project RIPARU of Bahi National High School in the Garchitorena district was utilized outstandingly, complemented with the right professional background and acquired relevant training, significantly improving students’ reading performance.