This study describes a program designed to improve reading comprehension through the selection, application, and transfer of appropriate reading strategies with both fictional and informational texts. The targeted population consisted of seventh and eighth grade middle school students in a middle-class community in the western suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. The status of the family incomes ranged from low to middle levels. Evidence of the existence of the problem included: student, parent, and teacher surveys, below grade-level scores on the Holt Rinehart Winston Diagnostic Assessment, and failure to meet adequate yearly progress (AYP) state assessment goals. Analysis of probable cause data revealed that students showed a needed improvement in reading comprehension related to the lack of application of reading strategies. Assessments and teams of teachers reported student difficulty in transfer of reading strategies to content area subjects. This may have been due to the absence of explicit instruction for reading strategies, in addition to unwillingness among teachers to work collaboratively in creating opportunities to use the reading strategies across curriculums. A review of the solution strategies suggested by the professional literature, combined with an analysis of the settings of the problem, resulted in a movement to administer explicit instruction of reading strategies to help students select and apply the proper reading strategies while reading fictional and informational texts. Ultimately, the design of this study was to establish ease with reading comprehension and the transfer of life-long reading skills. Post intervention data indicated an increase in the awareness and application of reading comprehension strategies on the post-study assessments; however, observations from each teacher researcher indicated students struggle to recall and consistently apply reading comprehension strategies independently. Furthermore, content area teachers/colleagues confirmed the students' inability to transfer and apply the reading strategies to their curriculum. (Contains 7 tables, 5 figures, and 26 appendixes.) [Master of Arts Action Research Project, Saint Xavier University.]