Background/Context: Improving reading comprehension has been a persistent and perplexing dilemma around the world since written communication was invented. Reading comprehension, which is the goal of reading, is a multi-faceted construct intertwining code-focused early reading skills and meaning-focused comprehension skills and strategies (Connor…

This paper reports on the Video Viewing Task (VVT), an assessment designed to measure teachers' developing understanding of two reading comprehension instruction approaches: Reciprocal Teaching (Palincsar, A. S. & Brown, A. L. (1984). Reciprocal teaching of comprehension-fostering and comprehension-monitoring activities. "Cognition and…

This study compared a year-round intensive coaching of teachers (35h) with a restricted in-service course (13h), designed on the basis of research-based components of effective professional development of teachers. Both courses were developed to innovate reading comprehension instruction in elementary schools. Fourteen second- and 16 fifth-grade…

Reports on a study undertaken to determine whether or not the characteristics of effective inservice could be documented in an experimental study to have an effect on use of process-oriented vocabulary and reading comprehension strategies in the classroom. Finds that the study confirms initial expectations about the qualities of effective staff…

This inservice professional development module, part of the Alabama Reading Initiative, presents research summaries, notes for presenters, and activities. The Comprehension Strategies module explains the process of building comprehension in readers so that they read for meaning and understanding. There are six interferences to comprehension that…

This inservice professional development module, part of the Alabama Reading Initiative, presents research summaries, notes for presenters, and activities. The Comprehension Strategies module explains the process of building comprehension in readers so that they read for meaning and understanding. There are six interferences to comprehension that…

This inservice professional development module, part of the Alabama Reading Initiative, presents research summaries, notes for presenters, and activities. The Oral Language and Vocabulary module elaborates on a student's comprehension of text as it relates to the overlap between the student's system of language and the author's system of language.…

A study examined the effects of a year-long inservice program to help experienced teachers in one elementary school appreciate and use recent research in reading comprehension. All teachers at an urban K-6 elementary school in a midwestern city attended the weekly inservice sessions which focused on the importance and role of background knowledge…

This inservice professional development module, part of the Alabama Reading Initiative, presents research summaries, notes for presenters, and activities. The Oral Language and Vocabulary module elaborates on a student's comprehension of text as it relates to the overlap between the student's system of language and the author's system of language.…

The Comprehensive and Cognitive Development (CCD) Program of the Kansas City (Missouri) School District has completed its sixth year of operation. The CCD Program supports the integration of assessment with instructional strategies to increase the reading comprehension and cognitive skills of middle school and senior high school students. Staff…

This document is the third volume of the Adult Literacy Leadership Project, an effort to identify the educational and training needs of Florida's literacy personnel--instructors, administrators, and advisors. Volume three contains an annotated bibliography on effective strategies for combatting adult illiteracy. The bibliography covers the…