Gina Cervetti speaks with U.S. News and World Report about research-based strategies to improve reading comprehension
According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, only about one-third of 4th graders nationwide are proficient in reading.
U.S. News and World Report reports that new data shows learning disruptions caused by the pandemic caused reading scores to decline significantly between 2019 and 2022. However, education experts say there are many strategies that can be employed at school and at home to improve reading comprehension.
SOE Associate Professor of literacy, Gina Cervetti, says students need to develop their content knowledge in order to make meaning of texts. “If we look at research, a few themes come up again and again,” she says. “Students benefit from purposeful instruction that develops literacy skills and knowledge alongside content and word knowledge.”
Furthermore, teaching students the meaning of unfamiliar words in a particular text can help them understand that text, notes Cervetti. But “the jury is still out on vocabulary instruction to increase comprehension in general,” she wrote in an email.
