Maximizing Effectiveness of Reading Comprehension Instruction in Diverse Classrooms

With 8 million students in Grades 4–12 struggling to read on grade level, effective comprehension instruction is a top priority for middle and high school teachers. This teacher-friendly supplemental textbook fully prepares current and future educators to help all students "read to learn." With a strong emphasis on teaching a wide variety of struggling readers, this concise introductory text gives educators research-based knowledge on reading comprehension and the practical instructional techniques they need to explicitly teach comprehension skills. The ideal foundational text on comprehension—and a great resource for in-service educators—this accessible volume equips teachers with the critical background knowledge they need to strengthen every reader's confidence and competence.

• Understand why some students struggle with comprehension
• Improve the comprehension skills of students with learning disabilities and English language learners
• Promote language development—the foundation of reading comprehension
• Understand how basic reading skills affect comprehension and are addressed at the secondary level
• Modify texts and provide accommodations when necessary
• Identify pitfalls to common instructional practices and plan ways to differentiate for a wide range of learners
• Explicitly teach key vocabulary words students need to know to be better readers
• Help students connect new information to their existing knowledge as they read
• Plan instruction appropriate for the type of text being used
• Teach students how to read strategically and monitor their own comprehension
• Get students motivated and engaged
• and more

Ana Taboada Barber, Ph.D., Associate Professor, George Mason University, 4400 University Boulevard, Fairfax, VA 22030

Dr. Taboada Barber's research focuses on the examination of classroom contexts that support reading engagement for monolingual and second language learners. She is specifically interested in the psychology of literacy from a cognitive and motivational perspective. In the past, she worked on the development of the modeling of reading engagement as it applies to all learners (e.g., native-speakers of English and second language learners) in the late elementary grades. She is currently working on the development of frameworks within the engagement model as they apply to second language learners. Her research has been published in the Journal of Educational Psychology, Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Journal of Literacy Research, Journal of Experimental Education, Instructional Science, Journal of Educational Research, and Lectura y Vida: Latin American Journal of the International Reading Association. She obtained her bachelor's degree in school psychology in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a master's degree in educational psychology at Temple University, and her doctoral degree from the University of Maryland. She was also a classroom teacher in bilingual schools in Buenos Aires before coming to the United States as a Fulbright scholar.

Sheri Berkeley, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Division of Special Education and disAbility Research, George Mason University

Prior to her current position, Dr. Berkeley was an assistant professor at the University of Georgia and served in a diverse public school district as a special education teacher working with high incidence populations, in both self-contained and inclusive settings, at preschool through secondary levels. Her professional efforts have aimed to improve reading outcomes for older students with learning disabilities in reading. In 2008, she received the Award for Outstanding Doctoral Level Research from the Division of Learning Disabilities in the Council for Exceptional Children for her dissertation research on reading comprehension strategy instruction for secondary students with learning disabilities. Her research has been published in numerous research journals including Exceptional Children, The Journal of Learning Disabilities, The Journal of Special Education, Learning Disability Quarterly, and Remedial and Special Education.