Due in part to conflicting opinions and research results, the practice of sustained silent reading (SSR) in schools has been questioned. After a frustrating experience with SSR, the author of this article began a data-driven decision-making process to gain new insights on how to structure silent reading in a classroom, including a comparison…

To investigate the effects on students' reading attitudes and interests of sustained silent reading as opposed to reading aloud, a study divided 50 urban third graders into two groups, with 25 in each group. One group of students engaged in an 8-week period of sustained silent reading which was teacher directed before and after the reading…

A study examined whether the integration of whole language with the basal reader would increase the use of language and comprehension of literature. Twenty students and one teacher in a split third/fourth grade classroom in a predominantly white, lower socioeconomic school in Ottumwa, Iowa, participated in the study. For 16 weeks, students wrote…