This quantitative study examines the Lexile level, estimated volume, and genre of fourth- and fifth-grade texts used in four popular core reading series to analyze the programs' possible effects on instruction and comprehension. The four series include Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's Into Reading, Lucy Calkins' Units of Study for Teaching Reading,…

This study explores the perceived effectiveness of an open educational reading programme for primary school pupils with specific learning difficulties (SpLD) such as dyslexia. The programme, implemented by experienced teaching assistants (TAs), encompassed multiple aspects of reading, including phonics, sight word reading, reading fluency,…

It has been suggested that the reading acceleration program (RAP) (Breznitz et al. in Nature Communications 4: 1486, 2013), in which participants are forced to read at a rate faster than their normal reading fluency rate, improves reading fluency and comprehension in alphabetic languages. However, its effectiveness has never been examined in…

Reading in upper-elementary grades includes comprehending complex texts and learning disciplinary-specific vocabulary. This study aims to determine the effects of a computer-adaptive supplementary reading program on fifth-grade students' reading achievement. Using propensity score matching to create equivalent groups of 450 students for both…

Purpose: We report findings from a survey of elementary teachers regarding reading instruction. The purpose was to examine teachers' beliefs about how children in the first 7 years of schooling develop reading comprehension skills and to characterize the self-reported practices and strategies they use to support children to comprehend connected…

This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of the Repeated Reading and Visual Comprehension Program (TOGAP) developed to support the reading comprehension skills of primary school students with specific learning disabilities (SLD) in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades. The research was conducted with four primary school students with SLD. The changing…

The purpose of this study was to investigate if a group of sixth-grade low achievement language minority (LM) students' reading skills could be improved by an intervention designed to train reading fluency, a critical component of reading development, defined as integrating speed and accuracy (reading rate) as well as prosody. The study included…

Background: According to the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS, 2006 with 87%, 2011 with 82%, 2016 with 78%, 2021 with 81%), an international reading comprehension assessment conducted at the Grade 4 level, South African learners perform very poorly in reading comprehension, even when reading in their African home languages.…

Background: Despite the fact that literacy instruction is a main focus of primary education, many children struggle to meet nationally set standards. Aims: We aimed to test which components of a comprehensive reading programme (ABRACADABRA:…

The Interactive Strategy Training for Active Reading and Thinking (iSTART) game-based intelligent tutoring system (ITS) was developed with a foundation of comprehension theory and principles of learning science to improve students' comprehension of complex scientific texts. iSTART has been shown to improve reading comprehension for learners from…

This study used a phenomenological investigation to examine leaders' perceptions of the implementation and impact of reading intervention programs. This study aimed to gain new insight into implementation challenges and effectiveness of reading intervention in Title I schools and add to the literature about the impact of said interventions from…

Many adolescent readers experience difficulties comprehending informational text, which may result from underlying difficulties with foundational skills (e.g., word recognition and fluency), knowledge demands (e.g., background, text structure, and vocabulary), and/or reading motivation. Supplemental interventions for adolescents targeting only…

This paper investigates the implementation of a reading program designed for third grade elementary school classrooms in Austria. Using a mixed-methods approach, lesson types were identified, respective class compositions analyzed, and the effects on students' reading gains examined. The results show that the lesson types seem to reflect learner…

This study addressed the effects of Strategies for Teaching Reading, Information, and Vocabulary Effectively (STRIVE), a distributed professional development (PD) model designed to help teachers implement reading comprehension and vocabulary practices in fourth grade social studies classes. Schools (n = 81 schools, n = 235 teachers, n = 4,757…

Students need strong literacy skills to succeed in core academic subjects--English, mathematics, science, and social studies--and to be prepared for college and careers. "Reading Apprenticeship"® is a professional development program that aims to help teachers improve their students' literacy skills. The program also aims to improve…