Learning Disabilities: A Contemporary Journal 17(1), 117-138, 2019 Copyright @ by LDW 2019 Literacy Instruction for Adolescents with Learning Disabilities: Examining Teacher Practice and Preparation Melinda M. Leko University of Wisconsin-Madison Turkey Alzahrani Al Jouf University Tamara Handy University of Kansas This study presents findings from a survey of secondary special education teachers who teach reading to students with learning disabilities (LD). Respondents were 392 special education teachers from a large Midwest- ern State who completed an online or paper survey. Results indicate pre- dominant foci of secondary special education teachers' reading instruc- tional practices were teaching vocabulary and comprehension, engaging in ongoing formative assessment, and incorporating technology into in- struction. Additionally, the majority of respondents report not feeling ad- equately prepared to teach reading to secondary students with LD. These findings are discussed in relation to the national discourse on adolescent literacy and special education teacher preparation. Keywords: Reading Instruction, Special Education, Secondary, Ado- lescents with Disabilities INTRODUCTION A long-held assumption is learning to read begins and ends in the elemen- tary grades (Chall & Jacobs, 2003), but profiles of the reading achievement of the nation's middle and high school students suggest otherwise. According to the most recent data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), roughly 61% of eighth and twelfth-grade students with disabilities read below basic level (U.S. Department of Education, 2018). Students with learning disabilities (LD) defined in this study as having a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or perform math- ematical calculations are at particular risk for poor literacy achievement. Data collected specifically on secondary students with LD indicate 70% of these students score below average on measures of passage comprehension compared to only 48% of students without disabilities (Cortiella & Horowitz, 2014). Thus, despite a historic emphasis on early intervention (e.g., Head Start and Reading First) students with LD continue to enter middle and high school without proficient reading skills. This, in turn, has resulted in instruction in basic literacy skills becoming more of a focal point in secondary schools (Faggella-Luby, Ware, & Capozzoli, 2009). *Please send correspondence to: Melinda M. Leko, PhD, Department of Rehabilitation Psychology and Special Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1000 Bascom Mall, Madison, WI, 53706, USA, Phone: (352) 442- 9138, Email: leko@wisc.edu.