You certainly need to be able to decode to read, but reading with understanding and subtlety is intimately intertwined with background knowledge and vocabulary. In order to understand a story about a basketball game, for example, you need to know something about basketball.
Subject-specific tests in math, science, or history track closely to what gets taught. But a reading comprehension test is a de facto assessment of background knowledge and vocabulary acquired in school and out. What if we focused testing and accountability on the part of reading—decoding—that really is a skill? A struggling reader in first grade has a 90 percent chance of still struggling in fourth grade; a struggling third-grade reader has only a one-in-four chance of catching up by high school.
Such data suggest that every impulse in education—and therefore the strongest thrust of school accountability efforts—ought to be aimed at ensuring that as many children as possible leave the third grade with solid foundational reading skills.
To be sure, there are significant complications involved in testing very young children. It really doesn't take many missing bits of background knowledge or vocabulary for a child to not comprehend a passage. Notwithstanding strong evidence debunking the Learning to Read to Read to Learn system, and that supports newer and more effective reading instruction and practices, many teachers still continue to implement a more "traditional" approach based on the antiquated "K—3 and grades 4—8" sequential reading instruction.
This is particularly evident in middle schools and high schools. A report published by the ACT, Inc. So if reading comprehension is so critical to students' future success, why don't more middle and high-school teachers focus on improving reading skills? One of the biggest reasons is time. Where teachers are required to cover large amounts of material in a relatively short amount of time it can be difficult to change the focus to improving reading strategies.
There's no lack of evidence that learning to read at an early age, and read with understanding, positions kids for long-term academic and career success. The same evidence also suggests that kids who don't acquire reading fluency and comprehension skills early in life struggle throughout school—and later on.
Hence, every possible effort should be made to 1 employ effective reading instruction and 2 continue to do so throughout a student's academic career. The following are proven tips, strategies and guidelines for sound reading instruction that will help turn any student—young or old—into a stronger reader, who not only reads with fluency, but understanding. As one of the foundational building blocks of future academic success, reading should be the strongest thrust of educational accountability and instruction from kindergarten through 3rd grade.
As many children as possible should leave 3rd grade reading with fluency and comprehension. The following tips and strategies will help create students prepared to succeed as they progress through grades 4—8, and beyond. Foundational reading instruction should continue from 4th through 8th grade with additional focus on reading comprehension within diverse content areas and disciplines. The following tips and strategies will help develop readers who are prepared to succeed in high school, college and beyond.
Myth or Reality? Keys to Learning to Read—and Read with Understanding There's no lack of evidence that learning to read at an early age, and read with understanding, positions kids for long-term academic and career success. Kindergarten—3rd Grade: As one of the foundational building blocks of future academic success, reading should be the strongest thrust of educational accountability and instruction from kindergarten through 3rd grade. Background knowledge plays a large role in reading comprehension.
Incorporate activities and instruction that build childrens' knowledge base. Children without "general knowledge" struggle with comprehension even if skilled readers. Facilitate reading by teaching children narrative and expository text structure. Students, young or old, must be familiar with text structures to become successful readers.
An alternative version of this article was published in the December 4, edition of Education Week. All Topics. About Us. Group Subscriptions. Recruitment Advertising. Events and Webinars. Leaders to Learn From. Current Issue. Special Reports. EdWeek Research Center. EdWeek Top School Jobs. EdWeek Market Brief. Menu Search. Sign In Subscribe. Reset Search. Sparks — October 02, Corrected: October 04, 23 min read.
The debate on how to teach early reading has raged for a century. But for the last few decades, the cognitive science has been clear: Teaching young kids how to crack the code—teaching systematic phonics—is the most reliable way to make sure that they learn how to read words.
Share article Remove Save to favorites Save to favorites. How do children learn to read? Vocabulary does not complicate the simple view of reading See: Attentional control and the Simple View of reading Proust and the Squid - Maryanne Wolf Reader, Come Home - Maryanne Wolf Sarah Schwartz. Follow Unfollow. Staff Writer , Education Week. Sarah Schwartz is a reporter for Education Week who covers curriculum and instruction. Sarah D. Assistant Editor , Education Week. Sparks covers education research, data, and the science of learning for Education Week.
Related Tags: Early Literacy Instruction. Thank you for subscribing. Nov 12 Fri. This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff. These data points help you. Content provided by ACT. Nov 15 Mon. Help every student belong in school with these practices for school climate. Content provided by Panorama. Nov 16 Tue. And while most students in special. See More Events. Teacher Jobs.
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more. Principal Jobs. Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles. Administrator Jobs. Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more. Support Staff Jobs. Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more. Create Your Own Job Search. But Will Teaching Change? Now, a study of three adolescent literacy projects reveals instructional approaches that can help teens develop the reading skills they need for consuming 21st-century texts.
Each project focused on a different method of reading comprehension — for example, building vocabulary and knowledge central to a particular unit — and implemented a curriculum following that theory. These three programs shared the understanding that adolescents face new challenges in reading, such as grasping unfamiliar content in complex language forms and integrating diverse forms of text.
Significantly, the researchers noticed three common practices in each of these projects. They found that building these practices in tandem into middle and high school reading lessons can help boost reading comprehension and build prepared, engaged learners. But that continued instruction has to be done in creative ways, says Snow, a professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. To develop comprehension throughout middle and high school, then, reading and language arts teachers should give lessons a clear, useful, engaging purpose.
They could build time for peer-talk and purposeful classroom discussion more systematically into their lessons.
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