Structures: Improving the Reading Comprehension of Struggling Readers in 4th Grade through Expository Text Structure and Writing

Structures, an intervention for students with and at risk for learning disabilities, will be developed and tested in three phases. The intervention will take place in small groups led by a teacher, and will focus on modeling, guided practice, and independent practice to enhance reading comprehension in the context of specific content areas (e.g., science). Intervention components include: detecting key features of different text structures (description, sequence, compare/contrast, cause and effect, and problem-solution); writing extensive responses to text to inform analyses and interpretations; and discriminating multiple text structures within complex texts. In Phase I, the PI will use an iterative development process using qualitative methods to determine the elements for each instructional component, the sequence of procedures for teaching text structure, and the level of specificity needed in the lesson materials. In Phase II, mixed methods will be used (a) to determine whether the instructional procedures are feasible for teachers with varied levels of experience to implement with fidelity and (b) to explore whether there is evidence that the lessons improve student learning. In Phase III, a small-scale randomized trial will be used to determine whether teachers can implement the entire sequence of revised lessons with fidelity and whether the intervention has promise for improving the reading comprehension of students with and at risk for learning disabilities.