" Pearnson's research claimed that "thoughtful proficient readers make connections, draw upon prior knowledge, create visual imagery, make inferences, ask questions, determine important ideas, and synthesize what they read." Lansdowne set out to test this at their school with their students. The spring of 2003 saw the invitation of Debbie Miller who is the author of "Reading with Meaning: Teaching Comprehension in the Primary Grades" published by Stenhouse, 2002, to create lessons incorporating the analytical skills into the first through third grade classrooms. "Millers work is an expansion on Pearson's" study in relation to strategies needing to be addressed toward all the "components of a good reader. " Before Miller arrived to work with the school the entirety of the staff read Miller's book reading as well "Strategies that Work: Teaching Comprehension to Enhance Understanding," Stenhouse 2000 written by Harvey and Goudvis. Included were several checklists for checking comprehension in reading. Two of the checklists are shown below: Before reading, student uses information from the title, cover, summary or about the author to:

Make connections to the text based on prior experiences in their own life, other texts, or the larger world.

Poses questions about the text

Visualizes missing information

Makes predictions about the text

Set a purpose for reading

Adapted from Reading Checklist in Report)

During reading, student

Make connections to the text based on prior experiences in their own life, other texts, or the larger world.

Makes meaning by asking and answering questions

Merges prior experiences with the text to visualize key details

Infers meaning and is able to support inferences with specific examples from the text

Uses organizational pattern of text to determine importance

Determines importance by discriminating between key ics/themes and supporting details/events.

Adapted from reading checklist in report

In Grimes report there are five listed steps to creating a program such as this on a schoolwide basis. Those five steps are:

Build a learning community for students and staff

Provide direct instruction in reading strategies of proficient readers

Design ways that students can independently use comprehension skills

Teach teachers how to collect and analyze data in order to monitor and modify instruction.

Celebrate and share success.

In a report entitled "Collaborative Strategic Reading: 'Real-World' Lessons from Classroom Teachers" a study that stretches over 8 years of research using the 'Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) was performed with the intent to 'improve understanding of expository text.' Examination of the teachers implementation (yearlong) was performed with "five intervention and five control teachers for ongoing and follow-up support." "In all but one exception studies show that comprehension gains were associated with the quality of CSR implementation on the part of the teacher."

There are several listed elements as being critical to positive outcomes in the cases of students that have disabilities related to reading. Those elements are:

Making instruction visible and explicit

Implementing procedural facilitators or strategies to facilitate learning

Using interactive groups or partners

Providing opportunities for interactive dialogue between students and teachers

Ensuring that the building blocks of reading are evident from a bottom-up perspective

Two reasons that students with reading disabilities should acquire strategies to help them understand expository text are that they are increasingly included in general education classrooms, where the demands to read and learn from the text are substantial, and they are unlikely to be provided with supported instruction by the special education teacher during social studies and science.

According to the study there is already evidence in existence that supports the worth of "comprehension strategies" (e.g. Gersten et al., 2001; National Reading Panel, 2000)

In an article entitled "Mildly Handicapped Students can Succeed with Learning Styles" written by Carolyn E. Brunner and Walter S. Majewski a high school in Hamburg, New York the students that are mildly handicapped are "enjoying high rates of success." The "faculty developed curriculum" takes the needs as well as the strengths into consideration and the school is experiencing "unprecedented attainments" on both "local examinations and the New York State Competency tests." The program was started in 1987 and the report states that "six special education teachers and a coordinator worked together to develop units of instruction in social studies, mathematics, and language arts for special education students in grades 9-12." (Shands and Bruner 1989).

The stated goal of this program was the provision of "a program that was closely aligned to regular education." A learning style model that was developed by Rita and Kenneth Dunn in 1978 was chosen. This program...

The 21 learning style elements were addressed. Emotional stimuli were in the form of motivation, persistence, responsibility, and structure. The sociological elements were included as well as the physical elements of the learning style. The psychological or cognitive elements were analyzed and the teachers started with organization of the lesson plans.
Prior to 1987 and the implementation of the new curriculum, only 25% of students passed the local examinations that were necessary as well as the State competency tests that are required to receive high school diplomas. During the first year of the program the success rate went up to 66%, the second year the success rate was 91% and remains at a steady 90%. The amazing fact is that more handicapped students passed the State Competency exams than regular education students. According to the report there have been other benefits such as students coming to the realization that they can succeed with more students earning their diploma which is accredited to the gained confidence of students.

This study states that the running of records is the best way to assess students in the area of reading.

This study states that time needs to be allotted in the routine of the teacher for doing student assessment. Running records takes time but hold benefits in assessing students in their reading. The study states that running records offer a 'window into the brain of young readers as their reading skills grow and change.' Information gained in running records is stated to be 'invaluable for informing instruction'. According to a teacher, "I use running records to form my reading groups, to guide them, and to make instructional decisions for individual students and the class as a whole." Running records, according to the study is not an easy implementation and the teachers view the process as being completely too time consuming to be practical. The focus of running records is the development of students in the area of reading skills. The study states that: 'there is no better way to get into the head of a reader than the running record.' The process of running records is learning the universal code that is used to record the reader while reading. Suggestions are made for running records on one student per day with a schedule of running records on each student every four to six weeks being considered ideal. Another suggestion offered is setting up the assessment table in a permanently designated spot in the classroom and place each student's literacy folder on the table. The key to running a record in shorthand is demonstrated by the example below.

Correct: The student read the word or words correctly.

Self-Correct: The student read the word wrong but corrected the mistake.

Asked/Told: The student asked for/was told the correct word

Pause: The student paused midword.

Reread: The student reread the passage indicated.

Transposed: The student transposed word order.

Omission: The student skipped a word while reading.

It is recommended that a record training course be take with an instructor trained to train others.

In the writing by Linda H. Mason, Department of Special Education, entitled "Explicit Self-Regulated Strategy Development vs. Reciprocal Questioning: Effects on Expository Reading Comprehension Among Struggling Readers" states that the "first wave of research in reading comprehension interventions was not aimed at the coordinated use of strategies before, during or after reading, rather, it was focused on validating particular strategies."

And further that:

reading comprehension research, therefore, has progressed from evaluating individually taught single-strategy approaches to evaluating instruction that combines strategies in a multifaceted approach."

O'Connor, et al. wrote in the document entitled "Teaching Reading to Poor Readers in the Intermediate Grade" Journal of Educational Psychology Vol. 94 (3) September 2002. That for most readers, the ability to identify words develops rapidly and is well established by third grade (Berninger, Yates & Lester, 1991) Further this document holds that interactive methods in reading instruction involving student participation is the optimum method for successful learning and comprehension in the area of reading. Vygotsky held this belief also in his belief that…