Summer reading.jpg from Flickr via Wylio

© 2014 Sheila Sund, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio

Grant Wiggins recently wrote what is clearly the best piece out there on reading comprehension research: On reading, Part 2: what the research REALLY reveals.

He’s promised to write a Part Two soon, also, which I — and I’m sure, many other educators — are looking forward to seeing (he just has – On reading, Part 4: research on the comprehension strategies – a closer look).

On literacy and strategy, part 6: my first cut at recommendations is another great post by Grant Wiggins.

I figured that his post would make a “Best” list like this timely.

In addition to his first post and his soon-to-be-published next one, here are a few others that I think belong on this list. I hope that readers will share more in the comments:

I’ll being with other related “Best” lists I’ve published:

My Best Posts On Books: Why They’re Important & How To Help Students Select, Read, Write & Discuss Them

The Best Posts & Articles About Why Book “Leveling” Is A Bad Idea

The Best Resources Documenting The Effectiveness of Free Voluntary Reading

The Best Resources On “Close Reading” — Help Me Find More

My Best Posts On Metacognition

Here are two other related posts I’ve published:

How Reading Strategies Can Increase Student Engagement

Great Website “Into The Book” Updated

How to help English learners read more quickly is from The British Council.

Reading Strategies, Student Engagement, & The Question Of “Why?”

Educator Cornelius Minor has graciously shared some helpful sheets for teaching reading comprehension.

‘The Reading Strategies Book’: An Interview With Jennifer Serravallois the second in my series of author interviews at Education Week Teacher.

Very Good Interview With Literacy Expert Tim Shanahan

Teaching Your Students to Read Like Pros is from Edutopia.

Can I Still Rely on the National Reading Panel Report? is an excellent post from literacy expert Timothy Shanahan. I certainly still rely on it, and it was great to read that follow-up studies have found that its recommendations work for English Language Learners, too.

Improving reading comprehension through strategy instruction is from The Education Endowment Foundation.

When Readers Struggle: Reading Comprehension, Part 3, Talking and Writing After Reading is from Russ on Reading.

New Meta-Analysis Identifies Instructional Strategies To Help Struggling Adolescent Readers

Supporting All Learners with Complex Texts is from Achieve The Core.

New Study Finds Having Students Make Predictions Enhances Learning

Comprehension Skills or Strategies: Is there a difference and does it matter? is from Timothy Shanahan.

Big New Study On Reading Instruction

Improving Reading Skills Through Talking is from Edutopia.

Teach Reading Strategies ‘Little & Often’ is the headline of one of my Education Week Teacher columns. In it, A three-part series on using reading strategies wraps-up with commentaries from Alex Quigley, Dr. Rebecca Alber, and Khristina Goady.

STUDY FINDS THAT READING INSTRUCTION MORE EFFECTIVE WHEN PAIRED WITH MOTIVATIONAL STRATEGIES

Questioning the Author: Unlocking and Weaving Together Knowledge Rich Text is from Mr. G MPLS.

Making Annotations with Less Pain, More Meaning is by Sarah Cooper.

The Skill, Will, and Thrill of Reading Comprehension is by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey.

Don’t Stop Teaching Comprehension—Just Embed It In Content appeared in Forbes. It’s a little bit all over the place, but makes some good points.

THE VALUE OF ORAL READING IN PARTNERS FOR ELLS & OTHERS

Distance Learning: Improving Instructional Interactions in Guided Reading Lessons is from Timothy Shanahan. It has some good ideas for ELLs and everyone else.

How High School Teachers Can Support Students with Reading Difficulties is from The American Educator.

An Active Reading Strategy for Any Learning Landscape is from Catlin Tucker.

Teaching reading – Embedding comprehension strategies is from The Education Endowment Foundation. It has a helpful graphic, though it’s blurry and not easy to read.

Quote Of The Day: A Good Explanation For Why To Use Reading Strategies

4 Reading Strategies to Retire This Year (Plus 6 to Try Out!) is from Edutopia.

Do You See Visualization as an Effective Reading Comprehension Strategy? And, for Whom? is by Timothy Shanahan, who basically says it works for older readers and not for very young ones.

New Study Examines What Helps Students Most With Reading Comprehension

5 STRATEGIES FOR READING COMPLEX TEXTS is from The Confident Teacher.

How to Provide Effective Reading Instruction is a new report by Timothy Shanahan and published by The World Bank.

Teaching Kids to Interpret Theme — You Really Can Teach Comprehension is from Timothy Shanahan.

No Surprise That New Study Finds Summarizing Is Effective Learning Strategy

In No Surprise To Teachers, New Meta-Analysis Finds That Student Interest In Text Key To Increasing Motivation To Read & Comprehension

The Active Ingredient in Reading Comprehension Strategy Intervention for Struggling Readers: A Bayesian Network Meta-analysis is a new study that offers some interesting findings (it’s also not behind a paywall):

Results showed (1) instruction of more strategies did not necessarily have stronger effects on reading comprehension; (2) there was no single reading comprehension strategy that produced the strongest effect; (3) main idea, text structure, and retell, taught together as the primary strategies, seemed the most effective; and (4) the effects of strategies only held when background knowledge instruction was included. These findings suggest strategy instruction among students with reading difficulties follows an ingredient-interaction model—that is, no single strategy works the best. It is not “the more we teach, the better outcomes to expect.” Instead, different strategy combinations may produce different effects on reading comprehension. Main idea, text structure, and retell together may best optimize the cognitive load during reading comprehension. Background knowledge instruction should be combined with strategy instruction to facilitate knowledge retrieval as to reduce the cognitive load of using strategies.

A Guide for High School and College Students is by Dan Willingham.

I’ll be updating this list with other resources I find and others that people suggest…