Podcast: Boosting Reading Comprehension for All Students

Maybe you’ve seen it in your classroom: a student who zips through a chapter but can’t tell you anything about what they just read.

Very few students know how to read for deeper understanding on their own. But just like decoding, sense-making is a set of skills that can be taught.

In this episode of School of Practice, educator and literacy specialist Nina Parrish walks us through evidence-based strategies that keep kids focused as they tackle challenging texts—from pre-reading tactics that make vocabulary stick and activate prior knowledge, to active reading protocols that turn kids into engaged, metacognitive readers who are always asking themselves, “Did I really understand that?”

Related resources:

• 5 Ways to Support Students Who Struggle With Reading Comprehension These strategies can help students who are able to decode well but have difficulty understanding what they read—and they’re beneficial for all students.
• 5 Research-Backed Ways to Build Better Readers The latest research on five foundational strategies that are teacher-tested and grounded in science.
• 4 Reading Strategies to Retire This Year (Plus 6 to Try Out!) A look at a few popular literacy practices that shouldn’t make the cut—along with fresh strategies that experienced teachers and literacy experts recommend instead.
• How to Move From the ‘Main Idea’ to ‘Background Knowledge’ Traditional approaches to reading instruction—such as finding the ‘main idea’—are less effective than a knowledge-rich approach, the research shows.
• Slowing Down the Reading Process to Build Students’ Comprehension Skills Slow reading gives students time to deeply engage with texts and gather their thoughts about the content.
• Aiding Reading Comprehension With Post-its A simple, low-stress strategy that helps students engage with, understand, and remember what they read.
• 4 Ways to Teach Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension Teaching these literacy strategies simultaneously can engage students in active processing, improving performance in both areas.
• Sweeping Round Robin Reading Out of Your Classroom Round-robin reading can slow down reading rates, reduce actual reading time for most students, and lead to off-task behavior or anxiety without improving comprehension.
• Research: Promoting Fluency Through Challenge: Repeated Reading With Texts of Varying Complexity (2025) Researchers found that combining repeated reading with exposure to a wide range of texts, including some that were above grade level, led to gains in reading speed, accuracy, and comprehension for fourth-graders.
• Research: A Longitudinal Randomized Trial of a Sustained Content Literacy Intervention from First to Second Grade: Transfer Effects on Students’ Reading Comprehension (2023) This study found that building content knowledge over time and linking it to reading practice helps young students better understand complex texts.
• Research: Effects of a Read Aloud Intervention on First Grade Student Vocabulary, Listening Comprehension, and Language Proficiency (2020) Researchers concluded that read-alouds, combined with structured classroom activities, boosted vocabulary, comprehension, and language outcomes for first-graders. 
• Research: Understanding Specific Reading Comprehension Deficit: A Review (2018) This study suggests that students who struggle with reading comprehension can benefit from explicit supports.
• Research: The Effect of Mandatory Reading Logs on Children's Motivation to Read (2012) Researchers found that second- and third-grade students who were required to complete reading logs lost interest in recreational reading over time.