Reddit reviews In the Middle, Third Edition: A Lifetime of Learning About Writing, Reading, and Adolescents
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Lots of experience.
First, here are four books I recommend related to this (in rough order of practical to theoretical):
Book Love
Readicide
In The Middle
Free Voluntary Reading
Second, if ALL you did was make sure they read books and developed a love for them, it would be good.
The best way to "keep them accountable" imo is to conference with them semi-regularly to talk about the book they are reading. Something else I do is go around and write the page number they are on. This can give you data on reading rate over time. It also helps to know who is reading and who is faking.
Now, your student population will affect how/when/if you do this. But, I imagine it will be helpful for about 90% of high school populations. Maybe 100. (Free Voluntary Reading backs this up with many many studies)
It can be a struggle, but if you make it part of your culture, you will get buy-in. Consider that I work at an alternative high school with "difficult students". One of my most resistant readers this year ("I ain't reading books. I hate reading..") Has finished like 6-10 books in half a year. She probably hasn't read that many in her last 3-5 years of school combined.
One important key is getting good books.
The most common argument against high school SSR is "I don't have time to that with all the content I have to cover." Depending on how nice I was feeling, I would say, "You don't have time not to." Otherwise, I might say, "Quit wasting student time with so much 'content'. "