Karen K. Wixson

Becoming a Strategic Reader

Abstract An important aspect of learning to read is understanding how to use strategies to aid comprehension. Many actions such as skimming, using context to discern unfamiliar words, and taking notes to aid remembering can promote reading comprehension and learning. In this paper we examine aspects of knowledge and motivation that are critical to becoming a strategic reader. We emphasize that agents are strategic, not actions removed from contexts, and that self-guided learning depends on the intentions, perceptions, and attributions of learners. Learning to read strategically is related to childrens cognitive development as well as to the social contexts of instruction. Some suggestions are offered for classroom instruction that can promote childrens awareness and use of strategic reading.

Reading Disability Research: An Interactionist Perspective

In this paper we examine reading (dis)ability from an interactionist perspective, and discuss the implications of this view for research on reading disability. The paper is divided into three sections as follows. The first section provides a brief historical perspective of the events leading to current views of reading disability and research practices in this area. The second section presents a review of selected literature that provides an interactionist perspective on reading (dis)ability. The final section provides a discussion of the implications of this perspective for future research on reading disability and presents examples of “interactive” research. Our general thesis in this paper is that research on reading disability must move away from the search for causative factors within the reader and toward the specification of the conditions under which different readers can and will learn.

Assessment in RTI: What Teachers and Specialists Need to Know

This article describes the role of language and literacy assessment in Response to Intervention, the assessment requirements and intent of RTI legislation, and the assessment principle in the International Reading Associations guiding principles on RTI. It outlines the multiple purposes of assessment required for a coherent RTI system, including screening, diagnostics, formative progress monitoring, benchmark progress monitoring, and summative outcome assessment. Building on this framework, the article then presents types of knowledge and skills teachers and specialists need in order to use assessments and their results effectively in an RTI approach to preventing language and literacy problems.

Putting Text Complexity in Context: Refocusing on Comprehension of Complex Text.

The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts have prompted enormous attention to issues of text complexity. The purpose of this article is to put text complexity in perspective by moving from a primary focus on the text itself to a focus on the comprehension of complex text. We argue that a focus on comprehension is at the heart of the Common Core Standards for ELA and that characteristics of the text represent only one of several factors that influence comprehension. Using both theoretical and empirical sources, we highlight the relationship between texts and tasks. We propose a Text-Task Scenario framework in which the simultaneous consideration of text and task results in a more nuanced and more instructionally responsive estimate of the comprehension of complex text.

Level of Importance of Postquestions and Children’s Learning from Text

This research was designed to investigate the effects of postquestions directed at information of differing levels of importance on children’s understanding and recall of expository text. One hundred seventy-two average and above average fifth grade students read one of three short, expository passages and wrote the answers to a set of postquestions directed at either the most important, the next most important, the least important, or text-irrelevant information. One week later subjects wrote a free-recall and answers to a set of test questions. The results of the analysis of the recall data indicated that subjects’ recall of the questioned information was superior to their recall of the unquestioned information and to the recall of subjects who were questioned about different information regardless of the level of importance of the postquestions. The results of the analysis of the children’s answers to the test questions corroborated the findings from the recall data. These results support the conclusion that postquestions directed at information from all levels of importance within expository text result in a backward review effect in children that is specific to questioned information.

Inside English/Language Arts Standards: What's in a Grade?

In this commentary on standards-based education reform, the authors assert that such reform must set challenging standards for student performance and then help all students meet them.

Standards for Primary-Grade Reading: An Analysis of State Frameworks.

The purpose of this article is to analyze state standards for early reading/language arts from 2 perspectives-what is known about standards and what is known about early reading. Guided by criteria that address equity, content, and specificity established by the Council of Chief State School Officers in collaboration with 9 other educational organizations, we analyzed the standards of 42 states with an emphasis on a subset of 14 documents that provide grade-by-grade information for grades K-3. The analyses revealed that (1) documents that do not provide standards for each grade miss important content that is unique to K-3 levels, (2) benchmarks/objectives vary along a continuum from very general to highly specific, (3) documents vary in the ways in which they conceptualize and organize the area of reading, (4) many documents do not provide a viable curricular path across grade levels, and (5) some documents include content inappropriate for certain grade levels and/or ignore important content. The implications of these results for the development of local systems of curriculum, instruction, and assessment are discussed.

Research on Literacy Policy and Professional Development: National, State, District, and Teacher Contexts

The purpose of this article is to review the research on policy and professional development undertaken by the Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement (CIERA) and to suggest how this work has advanced knowledge in these areas. This research provides a base for understanding the relations between effective teaching and learning in reading and the national, state, district, and school policy contexts that mediate classroom practice. The CIERA studies reviewed have consistently shown evidence of improved instruction and student literacy learning in contexts characterized by strong centralized supports, such as leadership within the school and/or district and networks or communities of practice that include strong teacher leaders. These findings lay the groundwork for future investigations of how best to establish such contexts in settings where they do not now exist, and of the resulting effects on students’ reading achievement. These findings also have implications for literacy policy research and literacy policy. They suggest that literacy policy research is likely to be most meaningful when it probes deeply into the relations among particular policy contexts, teacher practices, and specific types of student learning. They further suggest the need for accountability mechanisms that operate closer to the student—that is, at the district, school, and classroom levels as opposed to national and state levels.

Issues in Literacy Assessment: Facing the Realities of Internal and External Assessment

We are at a crossroads in literacy assessment. The forms and products of assessment are being critiqued in unprecedented ways by an unprecedented range of stakeholders—psychometricians (e.g., Linn, Baker, & Dunbar, 1991; Shepherd, 1991), policy-makers (e.g., Darling-Hammond, 1991; Smith, 1991), test publishers (e.g., Kean, 1992), literacy researchers (e.g., Calfee & Hiebert, 1991; Farr, 1992; Johnston, Afflerbach, & Weiss, 1993; Valencia & Pearson, 1987) and classroom teachers (e.g., Howard, 1990). Many have written about the problems associated with the standardized tests used for external decision-making, whereas others have written about the need to place more emphasis on assessment for instructional purposes. However, few have dealt with the relations between these two assessment purposes that teachers and students must deal with on a continuous basis. In this paper, we explore both the characteristics of, and relations between, two broad purposes of literacy assessment, the tensions resulting from these characteristics and relations, and new ways to think about these tensions so that we might build assessment systems that further the literacy education and achievement of all students.

Chapter 3: Instructional Approaches to Reading Comprehension:

Learning to read is a foundation for literacy and a gateway to education. Because it is an important objective for elementary education, the methods and materials used to teach students to read are continuously reevaluated. It is important to recognize that many people with diverse agendas and criteria for evaluation examine reading instruction. Sometimes they reach different conclusions and argue for divergent types of reform. Teachers want pragmatic methods of instruction, researchers want particular skills taught, parents want evidence of high achievement, and publishers want to make a profit. Many voices compete for attention wherever decisions about reading instruction are made. Why are American educators so concerned with evaluating and reforming reading instruction? Several forces are at work. First, Americans are dissatisfied with their childrens academic achievement. National reports (e.g., the National Commissions Nation at Risk, 1983), surveys (e.g., National Assessment of Educational Progress, 1981), and international comparisons (e.g., Stevenson, Stigler, Lucker, Lee, Hsu, & Kitamura, 1982) have revealed that many American schoolchildren have not learned to read very well. Second, studies of teachers and current reading materials have revealed that essential skills of reading are often not taught to students (Anderson, Osborn, & Tierney, 1984). Third, research during the past 20 years in reading, cognitive psychology, linguistics, and child development has provided tremen-