Improving Reading Comprehension

Statistics show that 60-70% of students in third grade or beyond read below grade level.  37% of adults read below a fourth grade level.  There are many causes for these reading gaps.  Some students struggle to read due to lack of phonological awareness.   These students have trouble decoding unfamiliar words.  Some students have trouble comprehending what they have read.  There are many issues that can cause reading comprehension difficulties.  Some students have a limited vocabulary and do not have the skills necessary to understand the meaning of unfamiliar words.  Some students have limited background knowledge as well as limited understanding of text structure and or literary elements.  Whatever the cause, reading interventions have to be explicit and target the missing skills.

Build Background Knowledge

Think of the human brain as a file cabinet.  In the file cabinet are files that contain our memories, experiences and associations.  As we experience things or learn new things, we add new files to the cabinet.  These stored experiences are called schema.  When we read we access these stored experiences to help us understand the concept.  For example, if a student is reading a selection about dogs, they will access their stored knowledge about dogs.  If they learn something new about dogs, they will add to their schema.  If they have no schema or stored knowledge about dogs, they will create a new file.  The more stored files a student has the better they are equipped to comprehend.  Schema can be built by having kids read and learn about various subjects, take field trips, view demonstrations, as well as view instructional videos and documentaries. 

Teach Students to Decode Unfamiliar Words.

One important skill students need in order to comprehend, is the ability to decode words.  Decoding is the ability to sound out words.  In order for a reader to successfully comprehend a text, a reader must decode the words to gain meaning of the sentences.  Decoding requires that students use phonological awareness skills.  Phonological awareness is the understanding that sentences are made up of words, words are made up of syllables and syllables are made up of sounds.  Students who have not received adequate instruction in this area will have a hard time decoding words due to the complex nature of the English language.  There are 44 sounds in the English Language.  These 44 sounds can be represented by approximately 250 different spelling patterns.  For example, the long /A/ vowel sound can be spelled using the following letter combinations:  /ai/, /ay/, /ea/, /ay/, /a-consonant-e/and /eigh/.  In order to decode and spell, students need to know all of these sound patterns.  Students must receive explicit and systematic instruction in the area of phonological awareness in order to effectively decode words and comprehend text.

Teach Students to Use Context Clues

When we read, we come across words in which we do not know their meaning.  Those who are effective readers will use the words or sentences around the unfamiliar word to understand its meaning.  This is called using context clues.  Many students have issues with comprehension due to limited vocabulary.  Teaching students to find the meaning of unknown words using context clues will help them comprehend the text they read as well as comprehend more complex texts.

Teach Students to Identify Text Structure 

As students read more nonfiction texts, they will become familiar with the text structure or the way the text is organized.  When students learn to identify text structure elements such as main idea, sequence, cause and effect relationships, author’s purpose, comparing and contrasting, they are more likely to comprehend nonfiction text.

Teach Students to Analyze Literary Elements

Mostly all fiction texts are organized in the same way.  All stories have characters, a setting, a plot and most times a theme.  When students understand these literary elements, they are able to comprehend the story better.  Children who are read to as well as those who read on their own have a better sense of story elements than those who seldom read outside of school.

Teach Students to Make Connections

When reading a text whether fiction or nonfiction, part of comprehending the text requires that the reader make connections to other texts, their own experiences and the world.  A text-to-self connection is when the reader makes a connection to what they have read to their personal life or experiences.  A text-to-text connection is a connection made to the material being read and other texts that they've read.  A text-to-world is a connection made between what they read to something that has happened in the world.   It is important that readers be taught to make these connections so that they can comprehend the text they are reading.

Encourage Recreational Reading

One of the biggest things I encourage all parents to do is make sure that their child reads for recreation.  Academic reading is the reading that one does for school or work.  Recreational reading is the reading that we do for our own enjoyment.  Children who read more have bigger vocabularies, more background knowledge and better comprehension skills.  Allow children to go to bookstores or libraries to select books that may interest them.  Children should read daily for at least twenty minutes.  

Nia Educational: Five Reasons All Children Should Have Access to Qu...

Nia Educational: Five Reasons All Children Should Have Access to Qu...: Recently, President Obama proposed an initiative to expand access to quality preschools for all children.  Decades of research has shown ...

Five Reasons All Children Should Have Access to Quality Preschools

Recently, President Obama proposed an initiative to expand access to quality preschools for all children.  Decades of research has shown that access to quality preschools can have a lasting impact on a child’s future.   One in three children will enter kindergarten unprepared.  Children who live in poverty often enter kindergarten one to three years behind in language and other kindergarten readiness skills.   If you ask any kindergarten teacher, they will tell you that many children enter kindergarten unable to identify letters or write their name.  This is especially true for children who live in poverty.  

In the United States, 76% of children aged three to four receive education and or care from someone other than a parent.  58% of these children attend a center-based program defined as preschool, childcare, or Head Start.  Unfortunately, not all of these preschools are considered high quality.  Not only is it important that these children attend preschool, but it is important that these environments offer high quality instruction and learning environments.  Ensuring that all children have access to high quality preschool not only benefits the child but it benefits schools and the communities these children reside in.

        Children gain the phonological skills necessary to become good readers.

Phonological awareness is a skill that is necessary for children to read and write.  Phonological awareness is the ability to identify and manipulate the sounds of the English language.  Children at risk for reading difficulty often have lower levels of phonological awareness skills. Children who do not attend preschool often enter school without the phonological skills necessary to begin literacy instruction. Quality preschools prepare children to become readers by building their knowledge and understanding of the alphabetic principle, which is necessary to acquire phonological skills. Children who attend quality preschools participate in activities that teach them to identify, name and write letters. Children's reading development is dependent on their understanding of the alphabetic principle. Children who cannot identify letters will have difficulty learning letter sounds and recognizing words.  Children who cannot identify letter sounds will have difficulty learning to read and write.

   

         Preschool education programs produce long-term benefits for children.

According to the National Institute for Early Education Research, children who attend quality preschools are more likely to score higher on achievement test, graduate from high school as well as go on to attend college.  Children who attend preschool have lower rates of retention and referrals for special education services.  There has been evidence that links quality preschool programs with reduced delinquency and crime in childhood and adulthood.  Children of all socioeconomic backgrounds especially those who are economically disadvantaged benefit from quality preschool programs.

  

        Preschool education programs can allow school districts to save money.

Special education services account for a large portion of a school district’s budgets.  In a report issued by the Center for Special Education Funding, in 1999 schools in the United States spent $78 billion dollars on special education services.  Current research shows that on average schools spend an additional $10,000 dollars per student for special education related services.  Studies suggest that children who attend preschool are less likely to be referred for special education services.  In a time where many schools face shrinking funding, quality preschool can save school districts money by reducing the number of students requiring special education services.

       Preschools prepare children to enter school.

On average 40 percent of children, enter kindergarten one to three grade levels behind.  Children who enter school behind their peers will more than likely never catch up with their peers unless they receive intense intervention services. The implementation of the Common Core standards has raised the expectations for kindergartners. In order for children to be ready to learn these new rigorous standards they must enter school prepared to learn. Quality preschool programs ensure that children will enter kindergarten with the skill necessary to achieve.

      Preschool helps to build cognitive, language and social skills. 

Early Childhood education data compiled by the Rauch Foundation found that 85 percent of the brain is developed by the time a child is five years old.  Quality preschools have been linked to the development of cognitive, language and social skills.  Research has shown that economically disadvantaged students who attend quality preschools have higher IQ’s than those who did not attend preschool. Quality preschools help students to develop oral language skills.  As children grow, they use their environment to build their oral language vocabulary.  A child’s vocabulary is learned through exposure to language. By age three, children have acquired an oral language vocabulary of about 1,000 words.  By age five or six, students may have 5,000 or more words in their oral language vocabulary. The major influence on the size of a child’s vocabulary is the quantity and quality of the exposure they have had with oral language. Quality preschools expose students to learning that will build their oral language skills as well as increase their vocabulary.