ABSTRACT
Our schools can do a better job of educating all of their students, especially students of poverty and minority students. The ability and will of our country’s African-American students to read has long been a concern of parents and educators. It seems that, although our knowledge has improved concerning the best methods to enhance literacy, we have most often failed especially those in the urban areas (Doughtery, 1997). Whether they lack the interest, opportunity, parental support, materials, or appropriate instruction, many of these students have failed to master the skills needed for success in literacy. At this point, the Matthew effect is established (Stanovich, 1986), and the students who can read, read more, build fluency, improve their ability to comprehend, and, consequently, learn more; those students who lack the needed literacy skills, read less, learn less, and may even lose the ability to perform any of the skills they had previously acquired.
