The Missing Link in Reading Comprehension and Academic Achievement

by Jason Caros, June 2014

Reading comprehension and overall academic achievement can be greatly improved, and learning gaps closed, by systematically increasing the amount of academic content knowledge students learn beginning in the elementary grades.

In ancient Greek mythology a king named Sisyphus was cursed by the gods to roll a giant boulder up a hill, but just as he reached the top the boulder would roll back down. Poor Sisyphus would have to repeat the labor throughout eternity. I sometimes wonder if educators are engaged in a Sisyphean task when it comes to their approach to improving student reading comprehension.

Teachers have been hard at work for decades aiming to improve student reading using the latest research in literacy, cutting edge teaching resources, and barrels of educational funding. What has been the result? According to the gold standard of educational assessments, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), elementary student reading scores have seen moderate increases since the 1970s, and this has been due, in large measure, to a growing understanding about the best early instruction in how to read. Unfortunately, reading scores for middle school students have improved only slightly, and scores for students in high school have remained relatively unchanged for over 40 years.