Middle school students bring various identities into the classroom including their reading identities, their self concepts concerning their views of themselves as readers. Using identity and psycho-social and socio-cultural theoretical constructs as a foundation, I conducted phenomenological case studies that focused on middle school remedial readers and the means by which their reading identities are constructed within and outside the institution of school. The study investigated in- school factors which impact student reading identities, including interactions with remedial and classroom teachers, as well as out- of- school factors such as family literacy