This article reports on an action research project conducted with six ninth grade students in a rural public school in Colombia. The purpose of the study was to determine how the implementation of three reading strategies (skimming, scanning, and making predictions), when reading topics selected by learners, helps them to improve their reading…

Evidence indicates that secondary level students are not making adequate reading progress to meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) by 2013-2014. According to The Education Trust, reading skills of African American and Latino high school seniors are not commensurate with the reading skills of white middle school students. The 2005…

In Reading Apprenticeships, teachers serve as "master readers" of texts, engaging in collaborative inquiry with students. Reading is demystified through metacognitive conversations that draw on readers' self-knowledge. Academically underperforming students gained an average of 2 years' reading growth in 1 academic year using the…

At a girls' secondary school with high numbers of speakers of English as a Second Language, Years 10-11 students tutored those in Years 7-8 who needed help, using the shared reading process. The plan benefitted both tutors and tutees within a school policy emphasizing language development, although it required a high degree of staff commitment and…

Suggests that one resource to which secondary school media specialists might consider to promote active involvement with books among the less skilled and less interested readers is that staple of elementary school libraries--the picture book. Discusses changes in picture books, teachers using picture books, stimulating reluctant readers, and…

Presents a letter written to a parent (concerned about her poor reading comprehension), which outlines some strategies to do before reading, during reading, and after reading to improve comprehension. Notes that the letter has been useful with parents and with reluctant teenage readers. (SR)

After a year of participation in an intermediary setting, the "Learning Laboratory," analyses of pre- and post-academic measures indicated that sixth- to eighth-grade learning disabled students demonstrated significant reading gains when compared with control students; ninth- to twelfth-grade learning disabled students did not demonstrate academic…

Describes collaborative efforts by the Strategic Literacy Initiative at WestEd and secondary teachers and administrators in California to develop and implement an interactive approach to reading improvement called Reading Apprenticeship in an effort to help adolescent readers break through the "literacy ceiling" in all their subject area…

Argues that instructional activities involving visuals help secondary learners understand and remember what they read. Discusses why and how teachers should use visuals. Presents strategies for using textbook visuals and learner-generated visuals. (SR)

Discusses the revised Extended Anticipation Guide, which is designed to reveal students' misconceptions about topic and to help students to understand exposition. (PRA)

Shows how word processors and color printers are promising tools for helping students to think more clearly as they read. Discusses how students can use different colored lettering to identify topic sentences; to separate descriptive from narrative or informational writing; to separate information from emotion in writing; and to make changes if…

Describes a simple previewing procedure that provides support for second-language students dealing with challenging reading selections. Describes a preview, gives an example, and suggests why they are effective. Summarizes results of a study, and concludes with suggestions for using previews in the classroom. (SR)

Re Quest, a questioning strategy suited to upper primary grades, was found to arouse children's interest, improve their questioning ability, and increase their comprehension scores. (RBW)

Concludes that oral reading should be encouraged as a possible means of improving the comprehension of disabled secondary school students. (FL)

Presents a six-step reading/study skills strategy which helps students learn how to approach a new text. (SR)