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[quote=Anonymous]I'm an ESOL teacher.  You asked for the most effective ways to improve reading comprehension.  In my experience there have been two reading programs out there that have been the most effective for helping advance my ESOL students who are reading below level rapidly.

One is for decoding improvement -- it is a systematic, sequential program called Abecedarian.  This program works best as an individual intervention or in very small groups of 2 to no more than 4.  Typically with my 4th graders who have the basics of decoding down but are working with multisyllabic words, they'd be working in Workbook D -- words with Latin and Greek roots.  Those who are further behind in 4th grade might still be working in Book C, beginnings of multisyllable words.   If I had a 4th grader who still needed Workbook A or B, I'd move heaven and earth to work with that child one on one.  I have been successful working with 4 students at a time in workbook D.

The other program that has really sped up reading gains is a discontinued series called QuickReads.  This is great for ESOL students who are capable decoders but need to improve reading fluency.  It also is fantastic for building background knowledge in Science and Social Studies.  Again I work with students in very small groups, so as they read a passage (the passages are thematically based with 6 short passages on one topic) I just ask them a ton of questions and when they reveal lack of knowledge on a subject, we just pull out the map, the globe, the Youtube video or whatever is needed and go over it right then and there.  My students have a shocking lack of background knowledge and this program just gives us a structure for being sure to cover the basics of elementary school content knowledge -- what makes day and night, the reason for the seasons, basic history of exploration; basics about ancient civilizations, animal classification, animal defenses etc etc etc.  Quickreads Level A corresponds to a low first grade reading level, Level D would be remedial 4th grade reading Level etc.

By the time my end of the year fourth grade students have worked through Abecedarian Workbook D and Quickreads Level E1 (remedial fifth grade level IMO) books, they are typically solidly reading at grade level and can participate easily with their mainstream class.  The do not stumble or hesitate when they hit unfamiliar multisyllabic  and they have a sense of the meaning of the words or can figure out in context. Their reading stamina is strong and they don't hesitate to pick up books to read for pleasure.

I only see my students every other day so I am always looking for the most efficient types of intervention and after 15 years of teaching these are the two I have found to be the most useful. I use them in my own tutoring practice as well.

Online the best resource I have found so far is Reading A to Z.  It has some flaws, but overall the kids do develop reading stamina, and at the higher levels the comprehension questions are decent.  [/quote]

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