Content area reading comprehension and writing have been a challenge for children in the U.S. schools for many years as evidenced by state and national assessments. One promising solution to the problem is text structure based instruction that promotes strategic selection, encoding, retrieval, and use of information for myriads of activities…

This study aimed to determine the efficacy of a content acquisition and reading comprehension treatment implemented by eighth-grade social studies teachers. Using a within-teacher design, the eighth-grade teachers' social studies classes were randomly assigned to treatment or comparison conditions. Teachers (n = 5) taught the same instructional…

This brief describes a quasi-experimental study of Word Generation, conducted in public middle schools in Boston. Word Generation is a robust vocabulary intervention that is implemented across key subject areas. The purpose of the program is to enhance students' vocabulary in support of improved reading comprehension. The brief outlines the…

Describes Reading Apprenticeship, an approach to adolescent reading improvement in which teachers apprentice students into the strategies skilled readers use. Demonstrates the program at work in one seventh and eighth grade classroom. Discusses four key dimensions of classroom life: social (building community); personal (connecting to reading);…

A summative evaluation of the instructional television series "Reading for a Reason" was conducted during the spring of 1982 as part of the premier showing of the series over the Wisconsin Educational Television Network. The series consisted of eight programs designed to teach skills for content area reading to seventh and eighth grade…

For a potential drop-out who had difficulty comprehending what she had read because she could not recognize a word, even though she often knew its meaning, a methodology for teaching word decoding provided an effective technique for achieving systematic early gains. Lessons for the eighth-grade girl followed this methodology: (1) decoding the…

This report describes a program for improving reading comprehension skills in order to heighten understanding of materials covered in class and performance on activities and exams. The targeted population consisted of first-, fifth-, and eighth-grade students in a large, lower- to middle-class community located in central Illinois. The problems in…

A study examined whether the frequent use of advance organizers in the content areas would significantly improve the reading comprehension of junior high school compensatory education students. For ten weeks a group of 16 students was exposed to the continuous use of advance organizers (structured overviews, previewing, questioning, and…

Eighth grade students whose reading achievement scores fell between second and fourth grade level were given an individualized self-concept approach to reading instruction in home economics. Causes for their reading difficulties were identified as lack of interest in school, no set goals, poor attitudes, poor attendance and suspensions, and…