Students in the United States are struggling to show proficient comprehension in reading, with only 35% of the nation's fourth graders scoring proficient or higher on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in 2019. Since the adoption of the Common Core State Standards (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010) teachers have focused instruction on close reading of complex texts in order to help students determine what the text states explicitly and make logical inferences about elements of the text including key details, theme, text structure, vocabulary and craft of the author (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010). In order to measure students' ability to analyze, interpret and synthesize, many states have incorporated text dependent analysis as a tested item on their state standardized assessments (Thompson, 2018a). The purpose of the ethnographic case study was to understand the instructional practices that three upper elementary (fourth and fifth grade) teachers utilize when teaching text dependent analysis to fourth and fifth grade students. Through classroom observations and teacher interviews, the research examined how upper elementary teachers, who have been trained in text dependent analysis instruction, implement specific reading strategies with their students. The study sought to illustrates what effective reading instruction looks like for text dependent analysis by examining how the upper elementary teachers moved beyond seeing the text dependent analysis prompts as only a tested item on state assessment to understanding how to guide their students' strategic reading and discussion of text on an analytical level. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]