Even in upper grades, reading must be taught.(The Orlando Sentinel)

ORLANDO, Fla. _ Glenn Anderson always thought he was an awesome history teacher.

He regaled his Apopka High School students with exciting stories from the past, tales dripping with all the salacious and gory details of history's rogues and heroes.

Textbooks were tossed aside during class_used just for homework assignments.

And his students failed tests by the dozens.

That's when Anderson realized he had to be much more than an awesome history teacher.

"I realized that I had to teach social studies by teaching reading," Anderson said.

Thousands of Florida middle- and high-school students can't read well enough to understand their textbooks. Last year, 57 percent of middle-school students and 62 percent of high-schoolers couldn't pass the state's Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

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Now thousands of secondary-school teachers such as Anderson are having to do something only elementary-school teachers are trained to do: teach reading.

"If I asked the kids to read a page, they could pronounce all of the words, but they couldn't figure out what was important and what wasn't important," Anderson said. "I had to slow down and teach them how to read their textbooks."

Anderson is not alone. Schools across the country have begun training all teachers to weave reading skills into lessons on photosynthesis, quadratic equations and auto mechanics. Even those who teach band and physical education are…