Is Reading Comprehension A Must-Teach For All Educators?

When students learn about the genetic code or pore though Huck Finn, do they really understand what they're reading?

That's what New York schools are trying to answer with their Secondary Literacy Pilot. The goal is to assess student literacy in all subject areas with the goal of helping students understand complex texts, Education Week reports.

Mary J. Schleppegrell, a linguist and professor of education at the University of Michigan, tells Education Week it's essential for teachers to "unpack" language and meaning for students.

"Too often, teachers simplify rather than dive deeply into it," she said. "On the secondary level, you can't really make it simpler and still maintain the level of content. You have to amplify instruction around it."

U.S. 15-year-olds scored slightly above average in reading literacy on the 2009 PISA, an international test conducted every three years that measures performance in reading, math and science.

And while high school seniors' reading scores improved last year on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, they were well below what they were two decades ago, the Associated Press reports.

Research indicates a trend toward less challenging texts in high school, and students are becoming weaker at grasping complex readings and using them as a basis for an argument, Education Week says.

Teaching text meaning is something some teachers were resistant to at first, said Meesha Brown, the literacy pilot supervisor. But that's changed.

"When we first started this, there was huge pushback," she said. "We had teachers tell us, 'If you make me teach reading, we're done.' But that changed when they realized that this is really about giving their students access to the content. Giving students the power to master knowledge means giving them the keys to understanding academic vocabulary and thinking in the disciplines."

Comments

[meadowsll]

03:30 PM on 04/13/2011

Many Children Need Help Learning to Read The achievement gap in our country is underscored by NAEP when analyzed by ethnicity or language, show over 50% of black and Hispanic students fail to read at the basic level by the 4th grade.

In a brief video, former President Bill Clinton, at the Clinton Global Initiative, endorses the use of Same Language Subtitles which teach millions in India to read from television, see the video as the website comes up, www.captionsforliteracy.org along with a short video of a boy learning to read and write from TV captions.

Free TV captions enable learners to connect the sound of the spoken word with the sight of the printed word in the context of the action unfolding on the screen.

Federal Legislation Is In Place, Research Has Been Done Since January 2006, federal mandates require TV captions to be available 20 out of 24 hours a day on virtually all programs. For 25 years of rigorous scientific research, see the research tab on www.captionsforliteracy.org.

Not More Television, But Better Television Of course, free TV captions are only a supplement not a substitute for credentialed instructors. But when average kids watch television 4 to 7 hours a day, turning on free TV captions provides thousands of hours a year for students to enhance their classroom learning by practicing reading at home.

Turn on free TV captions by clicking the CC button on the remote control or by using the set’s menu.

[deanleto]

11:14 AM on 03/21/2011

ok, typos aside, it's early and I was up late... LOL

[deanleto]

11:13 AM on 03/21/2011

another grey area issue....

math teachers teach math literacy....
art teachers teach art literacy...
music teachers teach music literacy....
Spanish teachers teach Spanish literacy...

we all need directed time from these subjects to teach reading of english, well, we would be doing so at the expense of other very important brain developing activities....

novel idea:

we teach PARENTS how to teach reading, and we have them teach their children the basics f reading at home, BEFORE children start school...

[royce76]

11:19 PM on 03/20/2011

@freducate

yes the lucy calkins zealots came to my school and said "this curriculum is applicable to all content areas, such as Science" to which I should have replied, "yes, my science curriculum is applicable to all content areas as well"

Teaching writing can be a highly individualized effort. The modifications, the expectations, and your motivational success/failure. I just don't like it when Literacy folks come at you like you just sit and twiddle your thumbs during lesson planning.

[kansasmagic]

02:16 AM on 03/20/2011

In a word - yes! I teach community college geography, and I try to incorporate literacy into all my classes. There's always an opportunity to work on skills like reading comprehension, vocabulary, and writing. (This is true for basic math as well!) I tell my students that learning science (such as physical geography) is in part learning a new language: The meaning and use of new words like "lahar" and "yardang." I even manage to sneak in a little etymology.

I also assign journal articles. This gives students the opportunity to practice reading and deciphering complicated texts, critiquing sophisticated arguments, and (hopefully) gives them a better sense of how scientific knowledge is "made." They are difficult, but I think they are worth it. If my students leave class learning nothing more than how to read an original research article, I think I will have accomplished something.

[Tom Iarossi]

02:01 AM on 03/20/2011

OK, I'm a little lost by the discussion, without literacy, you basically have nothing else. How can content be taught if the learners' language abilities are subpar? Seems to me that literacy, if not central to the instruction in other subjects, is undoubtedly essential in each of them, and we should all be able to apply some common set of practices.

Maybe if we taught nothing BUT reading until third grade...

[Christopher Bowen]

11:12 PM on 03/19/2011

During the past few years, there has been some pretty good research about successful schools. A common thread between them was the idea that teaching reading was everybody's top job. It's not about losing content. It's about previewing key concepts and vocabulary. It's about tapping into background knowledge before they open that book. It's about the teacher previewing the reading and looking for words or passages that might give the kids trouble and being prepared for it. It's good teaching. I have always felt that no matter what I was teaching, I was always teaching reading.

Chris Bowen
http://teacher2teacher.lacoe.edu/a-fresh-dreamer.aspx

[colred]

10:44 PM on 03/19/2011

As a business teacher I use a lot of texts. I had a high school text and a college text in similar subjects. The kids actually found the college text "easier" even though it was really more challenging in vocab and structure. Why? The high school text had visual clutter that disrupted understanding and was so simplified that I couldn't use literacy as a technique in order to delve into the subject. With the more challenging text we can read, analyze, interpret, reread, discuss. Through literacy technique they learn the material. They own it. The added advantage is that they are also learning how to approach a college text when they will be on their own. All teachers should be using reading to teach. That will also teach literacy--the comprehension of text. They are not separate entities; they are complementary.

[nuff swaid]

05:45 PM on 03/19/2011

Actually you and the powers that be have it backwards. Literacy can ONLY be obtained thru greater exposure to more and more subjects and the vocabulary with them. Trying to teach literacy thru ELA is like fighting with one hand tied behind your back. it is evident to any teacher that the focus on only Math and ELA has drastically reduced literacy across all subjects. there is a reason for the Arts and Sciences, Social Studies and Language, ALL increase literacy and good citizenship. This is why we need to get the Feds out of the schools and let communities control curriculum.

[Laura Hayes]

12:13 AM on 03/19/2011

Literacy has to be naturally integrated into the curriculum. For example, in subjects like science and math, article packs that students must respond to should be standard. In my social science classes, students read about 10 articles a year related to whatever history topic we were on. They then had to respond in writing. Authentic literature is what is missing from many classrooms

[kansasmagic]

02:18 AM on 03/20/2011

Agreed - I like this approach. The more primary sources students can get their hands on, the better. There's a place for broad surveys and summaries, but they at least need to be balanced by a deeper engagement with original research and argumentation.

[leftbehind2000]

10:43 PM on 03/18/2011

How is this even a question? Literacy is a key to pretty much everything.

[Paganus]

07:53 AM on 03/19/2011

Because if everyone is teaching reading, when does content get taught. I don't buy the basic premise here. I was not taught English or Reading in Math, Science, and History because I was busy with the content of those subject areas. Students who cannot read and write (or speak) standard english appropriate to their grade level should not advance until they can. Period. End of story.

Creeping remedialism - I'm seeing it even here at the college level - trying to teach them to read while simultaneously discussing literature does not work for anyone. We are in really big trouble when a skill-set so basic, and one that has been addressed for decades in one series of classes, all of a sudden foisted upon everyone else.

[redsquirell]

10:20 AM on 03/19/2011

Sitting in a chemistry class I should have waited to take, I realized my math was not up to par with the rest of the students. I never expected the teacher to start teaching math to me instead of chemistry to the students who were prepared. I asked after class and he directed me to the math I may need to brush up on and left the rest to me.

[colred]

10:45 PM on 03/19/2011

You use literacy to teach the content. Without language there is no thought. You intertwine reading with the subject matter. You are teaching the content with literacy. They are not two separate disciplines. They are symbiotic.

[sawyer0413]

12:39 PM on 03/19/2011

What that the question? The title of the post is, "Is Reading Comprehension A Must-Teach For All Educators?" Literacy is generally defined at the ability to read and write. I think the gist of the post was the selection of curriculum materials.

I believe that it was believed that simplifying the concepts in a more easily readable format would improve comprehension. What the story is saying is that this is not the case. The simplification of the texts has lead to less comprehension of the material.

It also argues that read comprehension is actually key to other complex topics not typically associated with reading. For example, a students understanding of science might actually improve (and apparently does from the research) if the science teacher teaches the students how to read these complex texts, rather than selecting something easier to read.

Make sense?

[Fran Jaime]

07:49 PM on 03/19/2011

You get an A+ in Reading Comprehension!

[eceresa]

06:54 PM on 03/18/2011

I like the point about the trend toward less challenging texts in high school. Well, I don't "like" it, really. But I like that it's being acknowledged.

The things kids read in high school these days are, very often, the things we were reading in junior high or even the upper elementary grades when I was in school. We read "Julius Caesar" in junior high. Most college freshmen these days can't handle Shakespeare.

[Venicelady]

06:13 PM on 03/18/2011

What a no brainer!

Of course, literacy is the basis for all forms of learning.

Does the question really have to be asked?

[Nikolai Curtis]

12:01 PM on 03/18/2011

As a teacher, yes it is a must. I teach science and many of my students that have poor reading and comprehension skills struggle with the advanced nature of science textbooks and content. All citizens should know how to read well to do well in live. I grew up reading and writing and by the time I was a freshman in high school I was reading and writing on a college level. I still read as much as I can, it doesn't matter if it's fiction or non-fiction. Why it's not pushed as should be is so sad to me.

[inmyhumbleopinion]

10:24 AM on 03/18/2011

The cause is pretty simple. Kids don't read anymore unless it's something they have to read for school.

I think there needs to be more required literature and social studies reading outside the classroom.