SBIR-STTR Award

The proposed project will develop and test a comprehensive, multi-media system for teaching reading comprehension strategies to elementary students, with an emphasis on making the instruction particularly appropriate for urban classrooms in which many students may be struggling readers. The system will have three major components: (1) A CD-ROM to train teachers to teach reading comprehension strategies. (2) A packet of printed material to provide teachers with everything needed to teach each strategy using a cutting-edge combination of ¿direct explanation of strategies¿ and ¿transactional strategies instruction,¿ two research-based approaches. Particular emphasis will be put on motivating students and giving them the selfconfidence and resolve that will make them life-long strategic readers. (3) A website to explain the nature of reading comprehension strategies, give an overview of how they are taught, and give teachers who are working with the strategies a means to share their experiences. In Phase I, these three components will be developed for teaching fourth-grade students a single strategy (summarizing) and evaluated in one urban school. In Phase II, the system will be expanded for teaching third-fifth grade students eight strategies and evaluated in several different schools.

Purpose: On the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress, 36 percent of Grade 4 students and 26 percent of Grade 8 students were at or below the basic level of reading. The purpose of this project is to produce a comprehensive reading comprehension strategies program for Grades 4 and 5 consisting of a teacher-training component and materials for 53 lessons. Project Activities: Technology development includes producing a teacher training DVD that provides a series of video clips of actual teachers modeling effective instructional techniques with students. Content development of the nine reading strategies and 53 lessons is based on well-accepted instructional principles identified by researchers as critical for reading comprehension. The evaluation will occur in nine schools and 34 fourth and fifth grade classrooms. Products: Products will include a teacher training DVD, a teacher's guide for the curriculum, student activity books, posters, and overhead transparencies. Unit-level assessments are being developed for use in conjunction with the curriculum.