This special issue of "JREE" ["Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness"] features studies from three of the teams (Barnes, Stuebing, Fletcher, Barth, & Francis; Language and Reading Research Consortium, Arthur, & Davis; LaRusso et al.) supported by the Institute of Education Sciences--Reading for Understanding…

A series of three experiments with suburban elementary students tested the facilitative effect of metaphors on children's ability to understand and remember what they read. In the first study, sixth grade students read two unfamiliar passages and were able to recall metaphoric structures better than literal paraphrases of the same information. In…

Readers as well as writers compose meaning. Using the same characteristics essential to effective writing--planning, drafting, aligning, revising, and monitoring--readers react creatively with the text. In response to the author's intention and their own knowledge base, they decide what they want to get from their reading. Constantly renegotiating…

Today, more than ever before, teachers are devoting much of their intellectual and emotional energy to helping students better understand the school texts that they are required to read. This can best be accomplished through six changes in the way reading comprehension is taught: (1) accept an active-constructive model of reading comprehension;…