Reading comprehension is a complex task. Research-based strategies can help, but there are other key ways to help your students become strong readers, including building background knowledge, providing a range of texts and text difficulty, and teaching self-monitoring skills.
If students haven't developed fluency — or "automaticity" — then reading can become slow, halting, and frustrating. When students are working so hard to get the words right, they can't focus on the meaning of the text. And if students haven't learned to read with appropriate expression, they might get through sentences quickly — yet not completely understand the meaning.
It’s important to make vocabulary study a regular activity in your classroom. Kids don’t really learn and remember words unless they see them many times in print, use them many times in their classroom discussions and written texts, and continue to see, hear, and use them.
Millions of today’s adolescents lack the reading skills demanded by today’s world. The impending crisis — millions of under-literate young people unable to succeed economically and socially — requires an immediate response. This report outlines 15 key elements of effective adolescent literacy programs and recommends that schools use a mix of these elements, tailoring the combinations to the needs of individual students.
Biancarosa, C., & Snow, C. E. (2004). Reading Next — A vision for action and research in middle and high school literacy: A report to Carnegie Corporation of New York (2nd ed). Washington, D.C.: Alliance for Excellent Education.
NASBE Study Group on Middle and High School Literacy. (2005). Reading at Risk: The State Response to the Crisis in Adolescent Literacy. Alexandria, VA: National Association of State Boards of Education.
