Some students enter the middle school each year reading below grade level. This researcher saw a need to study the effects of a special language arts based reading class on the reading skills of those students. Nineteen students took part in this study. Nine were in the experimental group which attended the special reading class in addition to their regular classes. Ten were in the control group who attended only their regular classes. Both groups of students were given the Gates MacGinitie Reading Test made up of a vocabulary and a comprehension section. The test was given to both groups before and after the experimental group attended the special class. The class itself was language arts based. In order to help improve the students reading scores, this researcher taught many skills including phonics, word recognition, writing, speaking, and thinking skills. Although a t-test showed no significant difference between the post-test scores of both groups, there was a significant difference between the pre and post-test scores of the experimental group. The control group\u27s pre and post-test scores showed no significant difference
