Comprehending expository reading material is a challenge for many students. Research has shown that students' expository reading comprehension can improve with the help of text structure instruction. The purpose of this article is to present teachers with a framework for effectively implementing text structure instruction in their classrooms.…

The Common Core State Standards have cast a renewed light on reading instruction, presenting teachers with the new requirements to teach close reading of complex texts. Teachers and administrators should consider a number of essential features of close reading: They are short, complex texts; rich discussions based on worthy questions; revisiting…

Elementary school students learn in school to stay within the boundaries of a single text, but students should be encouraged to read beyond a single text. A "single-passage paradigm" pervades school-based reading instruction, research, and assessment. Four scaffolding issues can promote a variety of stimulating approaches for reading…

This paper describes a study designed to find out whether children's reading would be affected by line spacing that is wider or narrower than the commonly used default values. The realistic, high quality test material was set using a range of four different line spacing values, and twenty-four children in Years 1 and 2 (between five and seven…