Co-Principal Investigator(s): Taylor, Barbara; Pearson, David

Purpose: Levels of student proficiency in reading comprehension in the United States remain low, and there is little evidence to suggest any increase is occurring in the use of effective instruction in reading comprehension. Research has established the efficacy of several approaches to teaching reading comprehension, but little is known about why these approaches work, and teachers find it difficult to actually implement effective approaches in their teaching. The purpose of this study is to develop and evaluate teacher-implemented strategies for reading comprehension instruction based on two established general approaches, and then to combine the positive features of the strategies of both approaches into a comprehensive model of instruction.

Project Activities: The researchers carried out this three-phase project with second and fourth grade teachers and their classrooms in four school districts serving different populations of students, one of which includes a substantial portion of students whose first language is Spanish. In the first phase, the researchers worked with second and fourth grade teachers to develop and implement teaching strategies using two different approaches. In the first approach, called cognitive strategies, the emphasis is on teaching students to carry out specific operations with the material they are reading, such as questioning, clarifying, summarizing, or reacting to what they read. In the second approach, called cognitive engagement, the teacher uses questions to encourage students to think about various features of what they are reading, in order to strengthen their intellectual grasp of the material. In the second phase the researchers formally evaluated the effects of teachers' use of these two approaches, by randomly assigning teachers in second and fourth grade classrooms in participating schools into three groups of classrooms using cognitive strategies, cognitive engagement, or continuing to teach as they had before. In the third year, the researchers used the results of the prior study to synthesize the two approaches into a more comprehensive model and then tested the effects of the synthesized approach in comparison with normal teaching practices.

• The team developed three sets of instructional routines that were sustainable over at least one year and easily implemented by teachers, namely: a) strategy instruction, b) cognitive engagement instruction, and c) instructional materials that synthesizes both strategy and cognitive engagement instruction. The team also developed a set of instructional guidelines that were able to be used by the teachers and accompanying professional development.
• The team also carried out three sets of experimental studies where they compared these effects of the different routines on 2nd/3rd and 4th/5th grade students.  During the implementation of these studies, they identified three implementation challenges beyond the frameworks of either instructional approach—the impact of district/school initiatives, movement of teachers from teacher-directed to student-directed instruction, and the selection and use of appropriate texts—and observed how teachers have met such challenges. (Garcia et al., 2011).
• No conclusions were able to be drawn as to the relative effectiveness of these approaches.

PRODUCTS AND PUBLICATIONS

ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.

Select Publications:

Garcia, G.E., Pearson, P.D., Taylor, B.M.,Bauer, E.B., and Stahl, K.A.D. (2011). Socio-Constructivist and Political Views on Teachers' Implementation of two Types of Reading Comprehension Approaches in Low-Income Schools. Theory Into Practice, 50 (2): 149–156.

Stahl, K.A.D., Garcia, G.E., Bauer, E.B., Pearson, P.D., and Taylor, B.A. (2006). Making the Invisible Visible: The Development of a Comprehension Assessment System. In K.A.D. Stahl, and M.C. McKenna (Eds.), Reading Research at Work: Foundations of Effective Practice (pp. 425–436). New York: Guilford Press.

Taylor, B.M., Pearson, P.D., Garcia, G.E., Stahl, K.A.D., and Bauer, E.B. (2006). Improving Students Reading Comprehension. In K.A.D. Stahl, and M.C. McKenna (Eds.), Reading Research at Work: Foundations of Effective Practice (pp. 303–315). New York: Guilford Press.