The purpose of the study was to determine whether easy or challenging versions of texts, when accompanied by different types of instructional support, improved adolescents' reading comprehension, particularly for students with below-average reading comprehension. The authors examined 293 ninth-grade students' reading comprehension of 24 leveled…

Maintaining a focus on reading comprehension is essential for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as some will still need to develop this skill during their high school years. Two evidence-based approaches for reading comprehension for high school students with ASD are Alternate Achievement Literacy (AAL) and Collaborative Strategic…

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of a self regulated learning intervention program on cognitive and metacognitive EFL reading comprehension of 9th graders with reading disabilities. The participants in this study were 40 9th Graders with reading disabilities, selected from two schools located in Baltim Educational Edara. A…

This paper reports the process of designing and partially implementing and evaluating a content-based and genre-oriented syllabus with a group of ninth graders at a public school in Barranquilla, Colombia. The syllabus sought to promote reading strategies in order to improve learners' comprehension of natural science texts. The results of this…

Students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often have difficulty with reading comprehension. This multiple baseline across participants design with multiple probes study examined the effectiveness of a multicomponent reading comprehension strategy (TWA: Think Before Reading, Think While Reading, Think After Reading) taught…

This article reports on an action research project conducted with six ninth grade students in a rural public school in Colombia. The purpose of the study was to determine how the implementation of three reading strategies (skimming, scanning, and making predictions), when reading topics selected by learners, helps them to improve their reading…

The contemporary workforce requires technical and reading skills (Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008; The Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, Partnership for 21st Century Skills, Society of Human Resource Management, 2006). Technical skills allow workers to perform specific workforce tasks, while reading skills are generally needed by…

Lack of reading motivation impedes upper elementary and secondary school students' willingness to improve critical reading skills and strategies to be successful in school. Struggling readers often show a negative attitude towards reading tasks and manifest low motivation to read. Although the importance of motivation is clear, there is limited…

Participants (115 low-socioeconomic-status [SES], inner-city, high-school students) were exposed to three reading conditions: (1) a control condition in which students silently read brief selected passages; (2) an experimental condition in which students were prompted to perform a three-part (Ask, Read, and Tell [ART]) comprehension enhancement…

In this article we report on an innovation project developed with a group of eleventh graders at a public school in Bogotá. Its aim was to encourage students to improve reading comprehension of texts in English. It was conducted taking into account students' needs, interests and level of English. To do it, we implemented two reading strategies:…

This article features Buckhorn High School in New Market, Alabama, where teachers weave literacy instruction across all content areas--with great results. Literacy is shot through everything at this 1,350-student school. It has been an obsession for a decade, ever since school leaders tested their students and found that one-third of entering…

Getting students, teachers, and the entire community to read the same books at the same time has its challenges--but many more rewards. In this article, the author describes how West Morris Regional High School District in Chester, New Jersey, formed a "literacy club" for everyone in the school and the local community to encourage…

Many high school teachers and administrators think that reading instruction belongs in the lower grades. But according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, only 31% of eighth graders read at or above the proficient level, which means that many are entering high school unprepared for its advanced textbook reading and language…

In response to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), raising literacy levels in secondary schools has taken on a new urgency. Recognized literacy author, Elaine K. McEwan, focuses her revised second edition on enhancing the "five big ideas" for raising reading achievement with seven cognitive strategies of highly effective readers and…

Today, less than one-third of America's high school students read or write at grade level. Literacy skills are alarmingly low even among those students who plan to go to college. Clearly, vast numbers of middle and high school students need help with their reading and writing skills. The question is: Whose job should it be to teach them? Among…