FEATURE ARTICLE Close Reading as an Intervention for Struggling Middle School Readers D o u g l a s F i s h e r & N a n c y F r e y An after- school reading intervention made a difference for struggling middle school students. But what made the difference? Close reading, peer collaboration, and wide reading of young adult literature. ized intensive reading interventions in groups of two housands of adolescents across the world are to four students. According to the researchers’ find- participating in a wide range of intervention ings, participants “demonstrated significantly higher efforts designed to improve their literacy scores than comparison students on standardized mea- Tachievement (Calhoon, Scarborough, & Miller, 2013 ). sures of comprehension (effect size = 1.20) and word These efforts include additional classes during the identification (effect size = 0.49), although most con- regular school day, after school, and in summer pro- tinued to lack grade- level proficiency in reading de- grams, as well as computerized interventions (Hartry, spite three years of intervention” (p. 515). Cantrell Fitzgerald, Porter, 2008 ; Soper & Marquis- Cox, 2012 ). and colleagues ( 2010 ) reported on a reading interven- Given that millions of dollars are spent each year fo- tion effort focused on comprehension strategy instruc- cused on students who have fallen behind their peers tion, the Learning Strategies Curriculum, which is in literacy development, the effectiveness of these part of the Strategies Intervention Model (Tralli, intervention efforts is an important consideration. Colombo, Deshler, & Schumaker, 1996 ). This study Thankfully, evidence suggests that reading focused on word identification, vocabulary, visualiz- interventions with adolescents can be effective. ing, paraphrasing, self- questioning, and sentence writ- For example, Vaughn ing. On measures of achievement, the 365 students and colleagues ( 2012 ) who received the intervention significantly outper- focused on 28 students formed the 290 students who did not. As the authors who had failed the state- noted, “It may be that struggling readers in later stages mandated reading com- Authors (left to right) of adolescence need instruction that focuses on con- prehension test in Douglas Fisher is a teacher leader structing a situation model that enables them to effec- at Health Sciences High & Middle grades 6 and 7. During College, San Diego, CA, USA; tively integrate their knowledge, experience, and the students’ eighth- e - m a i l d f i s h e r @ m a i l . s d s u . e d u . strategies to achieve deep- level comprehension in a grade year, the research- Nancy Frey is a teacher leader at variety of contexts for a range of purposes” (p. 269). Health Sciences High & Middle ers provided daily College, San Diego, CA, USA; e- Both interventions focused on learning during 50- minute individual- m a i l n f r e y @ m a i l . s d s u . e d u . the school day, but several intervention efforts 367 Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 57(5) February 2014 doi:10.1002/jaal.266 © 2014 International Reading Association (pp. 367–376) FEATURE ARTICLE occur after school. Many used educational technol- determine whether an after- school reading interven- ogy to deliver part or all of the instruction. For ex- tion program with a strong close reading compo- ample, Kim, Capotosto, Hartry, and Fitzgerald nent would result in improved academic ( 2011 ) evaluated the impact of a computer- aided achievement as measured by the state ’ s criterion- intervention program in an after- school program. referenced test for English language arts. Their analysis of 312 students who voluntarily en- rolled suggested that it improved achievement in Close Reading Defined the areas of vocabulary and reading comprehension but not in spelling or oral reading fluency. Although For the purpose of this study, we adopted the defini- the gains in vocabulary and reading comprehension tion of close reading proposed by the Aspen Institute, were robust, the authors cautioned that the results an educational and policy studies group with signifi- “are suggestive that the program in fact may be bet- cant influence on practice (Brown & Kappes, 2012 ): ter targeted toward moderate- risk students reading Close Reading of text involves an investigation just below national norms on standardized assess- of a short piece of text, with multiple readings ments” (p. 198). More recently, Cheung and Slavin done over multiple instructional lessons. ( 2013 ) conducted a best- evidence synthesis (similar Through text- based questions and discussion, to a meta- analysis) of studies that examined supple- students are guided to deeply analyze and mental and comprehensive computer- aided literacy appreciate various aspects of the text, such as key interventions. Their analysis of the results of these vocabulary and how its meaning is shaped by interventions, which involved over 7,000 students, context; attention to form, tone, imagery and/or revealed that “educational technology applications rhetorical devices; the significance of word choice and syntax; and the discovery of different had a small impact on reading achievement of levels of meaning as passages are read multiple struggling readers, with an overall weighted mean times. (p. 2) effect size of .14” (p. 295). Given the limited studies available to inform In our implementation of close reading, we focused intervention efforts for struggling adolescents, the on the following salient features (e.g., Boyles, 2013 ; question is whether there is an effective way to in- Fisher & Frey, 2012 ): tervene with students in larger groups without spending significant sums. Given the recent atten- ● Short, complex passages: The length of the se- tion to close reading (e.g., Hinchman & Moore, lected texts ranged from three paragraphs to 2013 ), we wondered if this instructional approach, three pages. Passages were assessed to ensure in which students are taught to think about increas- they were appropriately complex, meaning ingly complex texts rather than being taught with that they fell in the quantitative range of text texts at their perceived ability level, could be effec- complexity recommended in the Common tive. We were encouraged by the findings of Cantrell Core State Standards (National Governors et al. ( 2010 ), which implied that a focus on deep Association for Best Practices and the Council comprehension might result in meaningful change of Chief State School Officers, 2010 ). For for struggling adolescent readers. Based on these grades 6–8, the selected texts generally ranged considerations, and our own experiences with a between a Lexile level of 925 and 1185. As part close reading approach during the instructional day, of the analysis, we determined the qualitative we designed an experimental after- school close factors of text complexity (for the rubric, see reading intervention for students in grades 7 and Fisher, Frey, & Lapp, 2012 ), which would 8 who scored in the lowest 40% on measures become the teaching points for the lessons. of achievement. The purpose of this study was to ● Repeated reading: The structure of the lesson allows for students to reread a text selection Deep comprehension might for different purposes and to answer questions. Research evidence over the years suggests that repeated reading of the same text can improve JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENT & ADULT LITERACY 57(5) FEBRUARY 2014 JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENT & ADULT result in meaningful change for fluency and comprehension (e.g., Therrien, 368 struggling adolescent readers. 2004 ). However, we were sensitive to the comments of Nichols, Rupley, and Rasinski at the middle school level, the students performed at ( 2009 ), who suggested that “continual reli- least two grade levels below the criterion for their ance on repeated readings without appropriate grade. In addition, the students selected for this study guidance and support can lead to diminished did not have an individualized educational program, student engagement and may not help because those interventions were coordinated by students recognize that increased fluency special education personnel, and we did not have provides for more focus on meaning” (p. 5). permission to alter their interventions. ● Annotation: Students note directly on the texts as they read, identifying main ideas, circling confusing words or phrases, and writing mar- P a r t i c i p a n t s gin notes such as questions, reactions, and Across the three schools, 438 students in grades 7 or 8 examples. This approach can be used for nar- met the inclusion criteria. From this pool, we ran- rative or informational texts, in both print and domly assigned 100 students to one of five interven- digital environments (Castek & Beach, 2013 ; tion classrooms. At school 1, we selected 20 students Zywica & Gomez, 2008 ). for the experimental group and assigned the others to ● Text - dependent questions: These require stu- control classrooms. As schools 2 and 3, we selected 40 dents to provide evidence from the text to students for the experimental group, and the others support their responses. The questions are served as the control group. not limited to recall but rather focus on vari- Over the course of the study, 23 of the experi- ous aspects of the text. We used the Common mental group participants transferred out of their Core reading standards as a source of inspira- tion for the questions, focusing on key details, schools, and 2 students stopped participating in the general understandings, vocabulary