This study was premised on the importance of vocabulary in comprehending text. Critical findings from both the National Reading Plan (NRP) and the National Reading Technical Assistance Center (NRTAC) frame this study, both in the intervention that was implemented and in the manner in which outcomes were measured. Using expository passages…

PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) is the fourth assessment in the current trend series, following PIRLS 2001, 2006, and 2011. There were 61 participants in PIRLS 2016, including 50 countries and 11 benchmarking entities (e.g., regions of countries as well as additional grades or language groups from the participating…

PIRLS 2016 data from eight education systems were used to examine how teachers from three different language groups differed in their teaching of reading literacy. Teaching reading practices differed substantially between the three linguistic/cultural groups. In English-speaking systems, effective practices for establishing reading literacy seem…

Two longitudinal studies of word reading, spelling, and reading comprehension identified commonalities and differences in morphophonemic orthographies--French (Study 1, n = 1,313) or English (Study 2, n = 114) in early childhood (Grade 2)and middle childhood (Grade 5). For French and English, statistically significant concurrent relationships…

The reading framework for the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) presents the assessment's conceptual base and discusses its content. The framework describes the types of texts and questions that should be included in the assessment, as well as how the questions should be designed and scored. This report provides highlights of…

As the ongoing national indicator of what American students know and can do, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in Reading regularly collects achievement information on representative samples of students in grades 4, 8, and 12. Through The Nation's Report Card, the NAEP Reading Assessment reports how well students perform in…

This study investigated the influence of general vocabulary knowledge, science vocabulary knowledge, and text based questioning on the science reading comprehension of three types of students who varied in their English language proficiency. Specifically, grade 5 English-Only speakers, English Language Learners in the United States, and students…

Serious reading problems exist among middle school learners as evidenced by declining national reading scores and increased dropout rates. In response to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) expectations in reading, several experts have promoted a scripted repeated reading strategy such as readers' theater as a possible approach to improving student…

Public schools in the United States are facing a growing literacy crisis. Approximately a quarter of the population of 12th-grade students are still reading below basic levels, which means that they are barely able to comprehend at a literal level, make interpretations, identify relevant information, make simple inferences, and recognize and…