How To Increase Volume for Struggling Readers

"An encouraging message for teachers of low-achieving students is implicit here. We often despair of changing our student's abilities, but there is at least one partially malleable habit that will itself develop abilities -reading!" (Cunningham & Stanovich, 1998)

There is enormous variation in the amount of independent reading that students do outside of school. Cunningham & Stanovich (1998) report that 5th grade students who read the most (at the 98th percentile in amount of independent reading) read 4,358,000 words per year while students at the 10th percentile read only 8,000 words and students at the 2nd percentile report reading nothing outside of school at all.

In the process of reading those four million more words, avid, fluent readers "acquire new language and vocabulary, new conceptual knowledge, new comprehension challenges and new modes of thought to which they would not otherwise be exposed" (Adams & Bruck, 1995). Practice makes their word recognition skills automatic, freeing them to concentrate on higher-level ideas in their reading. Greater fluency leads to better skills, more pleasure, more information…. more reading! And so the cycle continues.

While good readers are spiraling upward to higher and higher levels of language and knowledge, struggling readers are spiraling downward into lowered expectations, lack of motivation and limited practice (Stanovich, 1986). Because their reading is so labored, they don't read, and because they don't read, they don't develop the language base or background knowledge of their peers. With every passing year, their vocabularies and background knowledge become more and more discrepant from other students, and it becomes increasingly difficult for them to narrow the gap and access the materials of the classroom.

Have you thought about using Start-to-Finish Books to build volume of words read? And the impact it would have for your struggling readers?

Try using all three formats of a Start-to-Finish book in the following way:

• First have students listen to the professional narrator read a page of the story aloud while they follow along with the highlighted words on the computer book. Then have students read the page to themselves using the single-word, mouse click support.

• Use the PDF files in the Teacher Materials folder to practice reading words that might be difficult. Students can see the words divided into syllables, apply the rules they have learned in class to practice decoding, and learn the meanings of the words as they are used in the context of the story

• Use the audio book and paperback book to practice at home or at school during independent reading time when they may not have access to the computer.

FACT: Each Gold Library book contains approximately 5,000 - 7,000 words.

FACT: About 95% of the text in the Gold Library appears on the primer through 3rd grade lists of the EDL Core Vocabularies, graded vocabulary lists researched by Educational Developmental Laboratories.

FACT: About 70% of the text in the Gold Library is made up of a subset of the EDL list. This shorter list of just 330 words contains high frequency words that every reader must know and read fluently.

FACT: About 5% of the words in a Gold Library book are unique to a particular story. These words are included to make the story interesting and to prepare the student for similar vocabulary across the curriculum. The words are introduced carefully and supported in context.

THE RESULT:

• The struggling reader, who in the past might have read as few as 8,000 words in a whole year, can now exceed this by reading just two Start-to-Finish books.

• The student builds vocabulary by reading and learning new words gradually and with support.

• The student is exposed to multiple books that share a common theme, enabling the student to apply newly acquired background knowledge and vocabulary to different reading experiences.

• The student is reading essential sight words and decodable words over and over to build automaticity.

• The student acquires new concepts and language skills with every book.

• The student's motivation increases with each book, encouraging more and more reading. Students appreciate the sophistication of the content and recognize the age-appropriateness of the stories.

There are over 50 Start-to-Finish Gold Library titles available. Think of the impact on your students! By reading each Start-to-Finish book in the library, they read over 250,000 words.

The Start-to-Finish Blue Library contains 18 titles with more on the way! Each book has approximately 10,000 - 12,000 words. As students progress through the Blue Library they will add an additional 200,000 words, bringing total words read to nearly half-a-million words! These higher level books introduce students to more complex, literary language.

References:

Adams, M. & Bruck, M. (1995). Resolving the "Great Debate." American Educator, Summer, 7-

Cunningham, A. & Stanovich, K. (1998). What reading does for the mind. American Educator. Spring/Summer.

Stanovich, K. (1986). Matthew effects in reading: Some consequences of individual differences in the acquisition of literacy. Reading Research Quarterly, 21, 360-407.