Traditionally, community colleges offer an education for everyone with a high school diploma or a General Education Development (GED) diploma; however, many students are required to take developmental reading courses. This study used a quasi-experimental comparative study model in a quantitative design to examine the effects of the strategic reading of informational texts focusing on the instruction of metacognitive reading comprehension strategies in the highest developmental reading course offered at a large suburban community college in Illinois. The students in four sections of a reading course titled RDG 091 were given a reading comprehension pretest and a metacognitive survey in the first week of a seventeen-week semester; these students represent a convenience sample of the RDG 091 population. The treatment group received instruction on reading strategies applied to informational texts throughout the semester. During the sixteenth week of the semester, the participants were assessed using a post test and the metacognitive survey. The data were interpreted to determine whether or not the participants experienced growth in comprehension; change in metacognition was also measured. Final grades were evaluated comparing the previous spring semester. The results showed that an increase in comprehension and the survey responses were not statistically significant. Also, a comparison of grades from the current semester to the previous semester was also not statistically significant. However, the researcher concluded that students who showed growth on either the comprehension test or the survey also passed the course. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]