This paper reports findings from a multi-year study of the scale-up of Reading Apprenticeship (RA), an approach to improve academic literacy by helping teachers provide the support students need to be successful readers in the content areas. WestEd's Strategic Literacy Initiative (SLI), began developing the program in 1995 and has since reached…

Describes the Selective Reading Guide-O-Rama which is designed to help students in reading selectively and in distinguishing key ideas from supportive evidence and major points from minor points. (RB)

Tells content reading teachers some of the pitfalls to avoid and some of the new approaches to take in helping students benefit from reading. (RB)

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)

Suggests that three dimensions should be considered by teachers who wish to develop the vocabulary development process of the students. (RB)

Discusses the use of a "reflection guide" designed to help students increase their comprehension and recall of a textbook chapter. Notes that the guide is especially useful if students are asked to read a chapter to obtain background for a class discussion. Includes a sample completed reflection guide. (RS)

Suggests that using the scientific method's five steps--recognize the problem, collect facts, form hypotheses, test hypotheses, form a conclusion--can help teachers of any subject help their students read with deeper understanding. (FL)

Examines the skills readers bring to the reading act, the print requirements of social studies textbooks, why breakdowns in learning sometimes occur during reader interactions with text, and possible solutions. (SR)

Describes the Instructional Framework, a teacher-constructed activity in which students are shown how to develop concepts while simultaneously learning content. (FL)

Discusses the types and functions of graphic displays found in textbooks, whether they facilitate learning, how well students read graphic displays, and what classroom teachers can do to help students read and interpret graphic displays. (SR)

Describes how creative mapping (a pictorial version of semantic mapping) helps students organize or recognize organization in expository texts. (SR)

Argues that mathematics instruction is dependent not just on numbers and their manipulation, but on language, literacy, and comprehension. Uses original examples of mathematical texts to map out a rationale for the teaching of reading in math, and includes a range of practical suggestions for the math teacher that support the "spiraling" of…

Tells how to set up an individualized reading center to help improve the reading of students in all the content areas. (RB)