The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects and social validity of Read STOP Write, a text structure intervention for reading and writing, in grades four and five. In a cluster randomized trial, 11 teachers in three elementary schools were randomly assigned to deliver Read STOP Write or RARE Reading & Writing, an alternative…

The authors of the Common Core State Standards and publishers of literacy programs focus on an essential aspect of comprehension, the process of drawing inferences. An inference refers to any piece of information that an author does not include in text but expects readers to use to make meaning. Four common inference types are anaphoric,…

Relational reasoning [RR] is the ability to derive meaningful patterns within any information stream. Further, RR can be used as a knowledge activation technique before and during reading, guiding students to notice when their prior understandings are similar to, different from, or in conflict with the text at hand. The purpose of the current…

The purpose of the present study is to determine if there is a relationship between oral narrative production and the reading comprehension of expository text. The researcher measured both overall and component scores for expository text comprehension and oral narrative production ability of 40 typically-developing fifth grade students. Findings…

This study examined the effects of three trials of a one-semester program designed to teach word learning strategies. Together, the three trials included 320 fourth- and fifth-grade students from diverse backgrounds. Trial 1 showed that the program significantly increased students' scores on an experimenter-designed test. Trial 2 again showed that…

The Common Core has emphasized reading for comprehension, including making inferences. However, little is known about the instructional materials included in core literacy programs for teaching inferences. The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of background, anaphoric, predictive, and retrospective inferences in instructional…

Although several different reading fluency intervention approaches appear promising for adolescents who are struggling readers, few studies have directly compared various approaches. The purpose of this study was twofold: 1) to determine the relative effects of word-oriented, fluency-oriented, comprehension-oriented, and multi-component…

This study examines interactions between teachers and students during reading comprehension instruction to determine how certain patterns of teacher-student talk support student comprehension achievement and reading engagement. The central focus of the study is "conceptual press discourse," a pattern of teacher response that includes requests for…

Multiple regression analysis indicates that the Reading-Level Indicator, a paper-and-pencil test, is a moderately strong predictor for the high-stakes standardized test, the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test in Reading. Classroom teachers can administer the inexpensive Reading-Level Indicator in a short period of time and use the results as a…

This article provides a statistical analysis of the reading gains observed at one American school in the Caribbean that was using Accelerated Reader. It provides an estimate of the number of hours students needed to read to advance their reading performance an additional year. The authors estimate how much Accelerated Reader contributed to the…

Reading fluency has been identified as a key component in effective literacy instruction (National Reading Panel, 2000). Instruction in reading fluency has been shown to lead to improvements in reading achievement. Reading fluency instruction is most commonly associated with guided repeated oral reading instruction. In the present retrospective…