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Improving Reading Skills

Our school is looking for ideas to improve reading skills among the students (who isn't right?), specifically programs or ideas on sparking increased reading comprehension and vocabulary integration across the entire curriculum. I'd like to have examples from other schools to present to a committee to get the ball rolling on some positive ideas. (look at this... I've already become a school politician, you know what I'm really saying)

Any suggestions or helpful links would be greatly appreciated. Most of the time I find really interesting ideas lurking on a school website, buried under several pages of "RAH! RAH!" and weather/school closure information. Specifically interested in reading strategies to improve comprehension and retention of information ... from a free source. Alas, we have little to no money for this. It's still the Bush years, go figure.

Comments

The Science Goddess said…
Okay, so it isn't free, but...

Our district has used "Read Right" (www.readright.com) for several years now---and with fantastic results. The program is used in our secondary schools with kids who aren't SPED, but whose reading scores are in the toilet. We just wish we had space to help more kids.
7:12 PM
Pigs said…
I don't have any good advice for you (I'm teaching in a district in which the superintendent is one of the major investors of Accelerated Reader, so guess what we live and breathe?), but good for you for getting out there! Thanks for visiting my blog! :o)
11:39 AM
Jenna said…
How do you use AR across the curriculum to improve reading skills? We use it too, but only as an add on for english classes.

Is there an additional component lurking in the system?
1:16 PM
Mr. McNamar said…
I am currently teaching Pre-college English and a Tier II Reading Class (for below grade level readers).
First semester I more or less made up curriculum using the Reader's Handbook and its coordinating curriculum--they have Science Reading/Math Reading/History Reading components. I like the format, but I still felt highly inadequate as a teacher. I'm not a reading specialist, just an English endoresed guy. We then added Scholastic's READ 180 program. It is composed of Direct Instruction, Reading Zone (independent), and Computer Zone. The software and topic CD's are both excellent. The student reading levels are given a Lexile score--grade equivalent--based on a pre-test. On average, I have seen significant gains in the Lexile score over the semester. Most of my readers had a long way to go before reaching grade level, so many are still not there. But, the format is wonderful for teachers, and my students bought into the system without much hesitation. Check out scholastocred.com.
1:04 PM
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