ABSTRACT
In their recent publication, Reading for Understanding, the RAND Reading Study Group (Snow, 2002) reported that the proficiency of students in reading and comprehending subject-matter text has remained a significant educational problem in Grades 4 through 12-the grade levels at which cumulative and meaningful learning in content areas (e.g., science) is emphasized and when reading to learn becomes a critically important student proficiency. A recent National Assessment of Educational progress report (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2000) found that 38% of 4th-graders were unable to read and understand a paragraph from an age-appropriate children’s book, a figure that rose as high as 70% in many school districts. Additionally, the RAND report found that international comparisons of performance on reading assessments placed U.S. 11th-graders close to the bottom of all industrialized countries in reading achievement, a finding paralleling that of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (Schmidt et al., 2002). Even after 20 years of systemic reform initiatives, there is substantial evidence of a continuing achievement gap between low-socioeconomic status, at-risk students who depend on school to learn and their more advantaged peers on both basic skills and content-area achievement (e.g., Florida Department of Education, 2005; National Center for Educational Statistics, 2000; North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2005).
