Dimensions of Skilled Reading

Connecting to Educators’ Critical Background Knowledge

"Skilled reading [is] the fluent execution and coordination of text comprehension and word recognition." —Scarborough (2001, p. 98)

• What challenges do your students encounter as they read complex texts?
• In what ways are current initiatives in your setting supporting student and professional proficiency?
• What do you know about models of skilled reading?
• What is the connection between language and literacy?

The Nature of Reading Comprehension

THE BLUEPRINT INVENTORY OF READING COMPREHENSION KNOWLEDGE

The knowledge and skills you bring to the design and delivery of instruction matter. As a proficient reader, you consistently gain access to and connect what you know with information presented in print. The blueprint inventory can assist you in activating what you know and also identify what you may want to focus on as you read the chapters in this book. Before you continue, take a few moments to complete this survey of knowledge. After you finish reading this book, you can revisit the inventory, respond again, and celebrate having acquired an increased knowledge base that will benefit your students.

CONNECTING SKILLED READING TO THE CLASSROOM

Any educational endeavor should always keep the student in mind, regardless of focus. Although the hope is that readers will find the content of this book interesting and helpful, it matters little if it does not influence student learning. Let’s purposefully begin by bringing students into this discussion. Consider what they need to know to read the following texts and then respond to questions that reflect varied levels of understanding that align with local and state standards. It is important to keep these hypothetical students, your students, and others in mind as we work with the contents of this text.

• Lily, an incoming ninth grader, had a summer reading assignment that included Animal Farm (Orwell, 1945) and related informational articles on the Russian Revolution.
• Will, a seventh-grade student, is reading the article, "The Founding of American Democracy" (McBirney, 2016) from CommonLit.
• Matt, a fifth grader, is wrestling with the novel, Tuck Everlasting (Babbit, 1975).
• Kayla is reading about mummies in Grade 4, including the selection "The Mystery of the Tattooed Mummy" (Rattini, 2007) from National Geographic Kids.
• Jermaine, a third-grade student, is reading about activists such as Benjamin Banneker and Rosa Parks.
• Antonio is listening to The Velveteen Rabbit (Williams, 1992) with his first-grade class.
• Maria, a kindergarten student, is listening as her teacher shares Frog Goes to Dinner (Mayer, 2003).

Each of these students comes to the text with different abilities, experiences, and interests. They will be asked to respond to tasks requiring varied abilities and levels of understanding.

SURFACING CRITICAL KNOWLEDGE: THE EDUCATIONAL CONTEXT

Our discussion of comprehension and comprehension instruction not only requires us to make connections to students but also calls for understanding the educational context, including student performance levels, relevant educational initiatives, and current knowledge regarding the acquisition of skilled reading. This background knowledge is addressed in the following sections and should serve to surface connections for you and inform your understanding of subsequent chapter contents.

Student Performance and Proficiency

Educators are well aware of the increasing demands for student achievement reflected in policy, standards, and educational initiatives. Reading proficiency, which is the ability to read words and make meaning, is a high priority. Students’ reading skills are typically assessed by their response to questions based on selected grade-appropriate materials. In other words, reading comprehension is a proxy for skilled reading and is the measuring stick by which overall progress is typically determined.

• The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is administered every two years in Grades 4 and 8 and measures students' skills across varied text types.

Past and Current Initiatives

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015 called for educational systems to adopt challenging academic standards, assess students in reading and math in Grades 3-8, and develop an evidence-based plan to support those students falling behind. Initiatives such as response to intervention (RTI) and multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) are commonly required features for addressing student needs academically and behaviorally.

Professional Knowledge and the Science of Reading

"There is a profound disconnection between the science of reading and educational practice." —Seidenberg (2017, p. 9)

These initiatives do acknowledge the importance of educator knowledge and professional development. Yet, access to professional learning opportunities grounded in the science of reading is often limited. An understanding of the science of reading and its relationship to practice is foundational to the development of curricula and the content of teacher certification exams.

The International Dyslexia Association's (IDA; 2018) Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading are an important source of information for these efforts. These standards explicitly set forth the knowledge and skills that all teachers of reading are expected to possess.

Dimensions of Skilled Reading

Language and Literacy

Understanding the contributions of language systems to reading proficiency is essential. The literature on reading acquisition consistently reminds us that skilled reading is a language-based ability, and those with a history of oral language difficulties are at risk of experiencing reading difficulties. Developing Early Literacy highlights oral language as one of the early predictors of literacy achievement.

Table 1.3. Language-literacy connections

Summary: Critical Knowledge for Educators

This chapter focused on surfacing and building educators’ critical background knowledge for working with concepts and ideas related to the complexities of reading comprehension. The current educational context and current student performance provide a backdrop for understanding the importance of creating informed literacy environments.