Reading Strategies for High School Students: A Review of the Literature

1. Reading Strategies for High School Students:A Review of the Literature Bill Muth Virginia Commonwealth University Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium Policy & Planning Council Meeting Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

2. National Assessment of Educational ProgressVirginia 8TH Grade Reading 66% Less than proficient National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2005

3. Performance of NAEP Reporting Groups Virginia 2007 -- 8th Grade Reading

4. proficient readers • fluent • deep and broad vocabularies • read strategically • self-directed and engaged

5. what works Kamil et al. (2008) • explicit instruction: vocabulary • explicit instruction: comprehension strategies • extended discussions of text • student engagement • intensive interventions for struggling readers

6. explicit vocabulary instruction • 3,000 new words per year, grades 3-12 • extensive reading, but… • direct instruction • new words • Tier 1,2,3 • How to learn words independently • ↑ word consciousness

7. explicit vocabulary instruction • multiple exposures in multiple contexts • strategies • semantic feature analysis, semantic mapping • games • running records • word-rich classrooms • dictionaries, thesauruses, word walls, crossword puzzles, Scrabble and other word games, literature, poetry books, and word-play and joke books

8. direct instruction of comprehension strategies • active comprehension monitoring & fix-up strategies • graphic and semantic organizers & story maps • question generation • summarization and paraphrasing • selective rereading

9. direct instruction of comprehension strategies • content reading strategies • win-win solutions • boost discipline learning and general reading • explicit instruction • demonstrations (e.g., teacher think-alouds) • Discussion • professional development support.

10. extended discussion of text • engage students in… • predicting • questioning • clarifying • summarizing • interpreting • connecting to prior learning • examples: • anticipation Guides • directed reading and thinking activities • reciprocal teaching

11. extended discussion of text • students scaffold each other • model literate thinking • ↑ Comprehension of difficult text • adjustments to curriculum: • tension between depth and breadth

12. motivation and engagement • interesting and relevant content • goals tied to “big picture” • being challenged (“academic press”) • examples: • range of choice and autonomy • hands-on learning experiences • interesting and accessible tests • collaboration through discussions and assignments.

13. motivation and engagement understanding the potential of non-canonical literacies • canon of methods • ELLs funds of knowledge • girls portrayed in traditional & pop culture • African American boys and masculinity • digital literacies

14. intensive interventions struggling readers triaged: • those with word-level proficiency • content area reading support for vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. • those lacking word-level proficiency • specialized intensive help • if significantly behind, (e.g., 2+ years) • system approach such as Response to Intervention

15. intensive interventions all learners, including ELLs and struggling readers, benefit from: • formative assessment • differentiated instruction

16. formative assessment &differentiated instruction • rich questioning & discussion to uncover student thinking • comment-only marking • sharing (co-constructing) scoring and grading criteria • ↑ opportunities for peer- and self-assessment. • group review of outcomes from tests.

17. formative assessment &differentiated instruction differentiation starts with accurate assessment FA starts with clear knowledge of standards & tasks. classroom-based FA: • “unpack” State standards • but—some literacy standards point to competencies that have less well-developed “theory of task” • e.g., “describe the relationship between theme, setting, and character…”

18. formative assessment &differentiated instruction differentiation starts with accurate assessment FA starts with clear knowledge of standards & tasks. intervention classrooms: • targeting word-level skills (e.g., phonics) • maintain meaningful purposes for reading • NAEP is insensitive to instructional needs of struggling readers • NAEP treats literacy as general skill, not content specific

19. formative assessment &differentiated instruction challenges: changing attitudes and instructional practices • tensions between teachers and administrators • educators’ attitudes & beliefs about indicators of student success • teachers need concrete FA examples: • assessment exemplars • discussion questions • think alouds • text sets • student-constructed rubrics

20. other findings • integrate SOLs “essential knowledge” with instruction • buy-in at all levels • teachers focus on no more than 2-4 strategies • content teachers need incentives & PD • content teachers need to know what is and is not expected of them • each discipline needs to define its own essential literacy skills.

21. conclusions fostering: deep knowledge of the tasks deep understanding of our students making connections between the two