After Reading The Effects of Theoretically Different Instruction and Student Characteristics in the Skills of Struggling Readers, it became apparent that intervention for a struggling reader is imperative to that readers success. The article states immediately that:

"During the previous 25 years there have been numerous studies focusing on the prevention of reading problems with young students. Converging evidence from these studies suggests that early instruction can be effective in preventing reading problems for many students."

The article takes you through two years of a rigorous study, explaining demographics, teacher qualifications, groupings of children, and findings. The following are highlights from this article to consider, and implement if appropriate within your own classroom, school or school district.

• One intervention used was Proactive Reading. This model is based on Skinner's Behavioral Theory, but goes beyond Skinner's theory "to include teacher communications, student response, and knowledge forms as elements for consideration when designing instruction (Engelmann & Carnine)."
• Another approach, which was closely aligned with Proactive Reading is Responsive Reading. Responsive Reading is modeled after Vygotsky's Theory which is a cognitive theory.
• Both interventions, while different, were based on the same pedagogical content. They both proved to be effective in supplementing instruction to readers who "demonstrate risk factors for reading difficulty."

Below is a link to Reading Rockets, which analyzed various interventions for at risk readers. The conclusions were the same - early intervention makes a difference for an at risk student. It can make the difference between bringing students to a level of proficiency, or having them struggle through-out their school career. The list compares numerous programs that can be used in the classroom to find one that fills a specific population of students, and student needs.

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/reading-intervention-programs-comparative-chart

How To Teach Reading

The Great Debate

Effective Reading Practices through the Decades -

After reading the article entitled, "American Reading Instruction since 1967", by P. David Pearson, here is a synthesis of some important highlights from the article.  

•  1965 Lyndon B Johnsen’s Great Society platform created a program called “Title I” in order to address the need for compensatory education for all children. Children specifically with disadvantages regarding disability, and financial hardships. The article Every child, Every Day, by Richard Allington and Rachael Gabriel supports the decades old Title I program.

•  1966 There were a number of studies published in a brand new journal called “Reading Research Quarterly”. The studies were funded by the Cooperative Research Branch of the United States Office of Education, in response to the long term debate about the best way to teach reading. On the heels of this publication came Jeanne Chall’s book, Learning to Read: The Great Debate. An article by Jennifer Monahagn, Jeanne Chall (1921-1999), supported Chall's philosophy in best reading practices for an effective reading instruction. Both of these events had a profound effect on the course of reading intstruction, and publishers began to create  what became know as skills management systems.

•  The 1980’s and 1990’s reading was embraced by Linguists, Psycholinguists, Psychologists, Sociolinguists, and Literary Theorists. These disciplines started talking about “differences”, not “deficits” in reading and the way in which reading was taught and comprehended, and the relevence of texts within a community. “Because of the work of Sociolinguists, the meaning of the word context expanded to include not only what was on the page, but what Bloome and Greene referred to as the instructional, non-instructional, and home and community contexts of literacy.” (Read : American Reading Instruction since 1967)   

 Video Reflections-

In the video,    Teacher Candace Bookman reaches out to disadvantaged readers, and those ready to move ahead, by using effective reading strategies from long ago. These strategies are still being used today to help increase student's reading levels. Some examples include the use of guided instruction through phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, comprehension and fluency. This video definitely supports the articles findings.
How could you incorporate effective reading strategies from long ago into your classroom today?
 

References

• http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar12/vol69/num06/Every-Child,-Every-Day.aspx
• http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1819/Chall-Jeanne-1921-1999.html

• https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video;_ylt=A2KLqIIBgBBWF3cA.VT7w8QF;_ylu=X3oDMTBsOWdjMmRnBHNlYwNzZWFyY2gEdnRpZANWSURDMQ--;_ylc=X1MDOTY3ODEzMDcEX3IDMgRiY2sDZnZiNzJ0OWIwa3B0YiUyNmIlM0QzJTI2cyUzRHJhBGZyA21jYWZlZQRncHJpZANNaTN6WGMyZVRTNkFvRzA1dGp4MXRBBG10ZXN0aWQDVUkwMSUzRFZJREMxBG5fcnNsdAM2MARuX3N1Z2cDMARvcmlnaW4DdmlkZW8uc2VhcmNoLnlhaG9vLmNvbQRwb3MDMARwcXN0cgMEcHFzdHJsAwRxc3RybAM2NgRxdWVyeQN2aWRlbyBjbGlwIG9uIGJlc3QgcmVhZGluZyBwcmFjdGljZXMgb24gc2tpbGxzIG1hbmFnZW1lbnQgcHJvZ3JhbXMEdF9zdG1wAzE0NDM5MjIwMzcEdnRlc3RpZANWSURDMQ--?gprid=Mi3zXc2eTS6AoG05tjx1tA&pvid=3pDsoTk4LjH_rOLqVgpnqwHuMjYwMQAAAABFO2KD&p=video+clip+on+best+reading+practices+on+skills+management+programs&ei=UTF-8&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Av%2Cm%3Asa&fr=mcafee#id=7&vid=480ae1f1ba26cf71a632c616689014a2&action=view