14 Powerful Reading Comprehension Strategies To Teach Students

Comprehension is the goal of reading. If students don’t understand what they read, well, reading is a meaningless activity. The good news: Reading comprehension can be taught, practiced, and mastered. As students become readers, you can teach strategies that students can learn and add to their toolbox. Think about reading comprehension as a combination of skills. Students need to get the words off the page (fluency, word reading) and understand the language they are reading (language structure, knowledge, vocabulary, and reasoning).

If a student does not have strong language comprehension skills in particular, they won’t understand what they read, even if their fluency and word reading is strong. Reading comprehension strategies focus on building students’ language comprehension and teach them how to tackle text when they don’t understand. Scarborough’s Reading Rope is a way to visualize the skills that go into reading. The top five skills (background knowledge, vocabulary, language structure, verbal reasoning, and literacy knowledge) become more strategic over time as students learn how to apply strategies to different kinds of text. The bottom three skills (phonological awareness, decoding, and sight recognition) become more automatic as students master each skill. Learn more: What Is Reading Comprehension?

Here are our favorite reading comprehension strategies to help students develop and strengthen their reading comprehension. Based on research and effective practice, these strategies help students learn how to coordinate and use a set of key comprehension techniques before, during, and after they read a variety of texts. To correspond with a typical reading lesson, comprehension strategy instruction can be organized into a three-part framework, with specific activities used before, during, and after reading. Providing instruction such as the following example allows students to see, learn, and use a variety of comprehension strategies as they read. Note, however, that the framework is a general one and represents an array of strategies. All of the strategies in this framework do not have to be used with every text or in every reading situation.

The following are some examples of specific procedures that you can use to help students improve their comprehension of narrative texts. Retelling involves having students orally reconstruct a story that they have read. Thanks to its partnership with publisher Eye on Education, EducationWorld is pleased to present this teaching tip from Improving Adolescent Literacy: An RTI Implementation Guide, by Pamela S. Craig and Rebecca Sarlo. This article helps secondary teachers and school leaders implement a problem-solving/RTI framework to help all students greatly improve their reading skills. One role of the literacy leadership team is to identify specific strategies to be implemented by all teachers in order to reinforce the use of the strategies with different types of texts across content...

Identifying specific strategies to address pre, during (see the table below), and post reading is an easy way to introduce comprehension instruction into the curriculum without teachers feeling they are diverting attention away from... This approach encourages active reading within all classes and ensures that students make the connection between reading comprehension strategies and learning. Pre-reading strategies, such as identifying text features to make predictions about the text, are helpful to students. Teachers begin by modeling think-alouds as an effective instructional practice that allows teachers to embed literacy instruction within content instruction. Prior to asking students to read assigned text, teachers review the relevant text features and ask students to make predictions about the topic and concepts contained in the text. Ideally, the teacher places the assigned reading on a projection device (e.g., overhead projector, ELMO) and shows students the specific text features that help guide and prepare the reader prior to reading the actual...

The teacher may also model thinking aloud to share with students how he or she uses the text features to make predictions and identify relevant details or ideas for focus. This can be followed by allowing time for students to work in small groups to review text features and make their own predictions. In addition to pre-reading strategies, teachers should also provide students with during-reading strategies to maintain student engagement and comprehension throughout the reading process. For example, students can be taught how to selectively highlight or underline key words and phrases as they read. If it is not possible for students to write on the text, then teachers can have students create two-column notes or write key words and phrases on sticky notes to be organized after the... With this strategy, students are asked to identify the topic of individual paragraphs as they read and to create summary sentences for sections of text.

The process of summarizing paragraphs helps keep students engaged in reading and aids comprehension, while a review of the summaries helps students grasp the important information presented in the text. Finally, teachers need to help students engage in thinking activities after the reading is completed to allow time for students to process the notes and observations they made while they read. As discussed earlier, students can be asked to summarize the text using key concepts identified as they read. They might work in small groups to discuss the relevant details and link their details to key concepts learned through the reading. They might also work in groups to identify essential questions discovered as they read. These questions can then be used to guide further discussions about the material.

Content-specific graphic organizers and note-taking strategies are also effective tools for students to organize the information and draw conclusions about the text. See how Newsela’s products help you build a solid educational foundation so you can engage, support, and grow every learner. Newsela launched in 2013 with a bold mission: Meaningful classroom learning for every student. Today, our team constantly strives to deliver powerful solutions that inspire our users. Newsela products are purpose-built to unlock student motivation, inspire teachers, and drive long-lasting learning outcomes. Everything you need to be successfully while using the Newsela suite of products.

See how Newsela’s products help you build a solid educational foundation so you can engage, support, and grow every learner. Weak readers struggle in all academic areas. For this reason, incorporating reading comprehension strategies into instruction across the content areas helps middle school and high school students improve their reading comprehension and academic performance across all areas of the secondary school... We live in a text-rich world, bombarded by information 24/7. For this reason, poor reading comprehension can have far-reaching and long-lasting effects on our students’ academic, personal, and professional lives. For these reasons, we teachers want to provide our students with the support and instruction they need to improve their reading comprehension strategies and develop the type of strong reading skills that will enable...

As with so many other things, strong readers take reading comprehension for granted and don’t think much about the reading process until something goes wrong. Previewing the text by looking at the title, headings, and subheadings to get an idea of what the text is about Reading comprehension is a crucial skill in any classroom, but especially when teaching English. For many students, reading comprehension is not just about decoding words but understanding the underlying message, context, and themes of the text. In this blog post, we will explore effective strategies for implementing reading comprehension lessons in the classroom. We’ll focus on key stages: pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading.

These stages, when executed correctly, help students engage deeply with the material, develop critical thinking skills, and build independent reading habits that extend beyond the classroom. Reading comprehension isn’t just about understanding the words on a page; it’s about engaging with a text on multiple levels. It requires students to interact with the material, understand its structure, draw inferences, and reflect on its meaning. For many learners, especially in Indian classrooms, reading comprehension can be challenging because of language barriers, unfamiliar vocabulary, or complex sentence structures. By using effective reading strategies, teachers can help students develop a solid foundation in understanding texts and improve their ability to analyze and interpret what they read. Effective reading comprehension lessons are also vital because they foster independent learning.

In a world that increasingly demands the ability to process large amounts of written information quickly and accurately, these skills are fundamental to a student’s academic and professional success. Before diving into a text, it’s essential to prepare students for what they are about to read. The pre-reading phase is crucial because it activates prior knowledge and sets expectations for the reading experience. Here are some pre-reading strategies to incorporate into your classroom: Before students start reading, it’s helpful to activate their existing knowledge about the topic. This could involve asking them what they already know about the subject or brainstorming key concepts related to the text.

Activating prior knowledge helps students build connections between the new text and what they already know, making the reading experience more meaningful. A post from our Literacy Learning: Science of reading blog series written by teachers, for teachers, this series provides educators with the knowledge and best practices needed to sharpen their skills and bring effective... Reading comprehension is considered the ultimate goal of reading instruction. While in the past, there was a belief that reading comprehension was based only on extracting meaning from the text, we now know that comprehension involves a reader using conscious processes to construct meaning... In her influential research study titled, “What Classroom Observations Reveal About Reading Comprehension Instruction (1978),” educator and researcher Dolores Durkin described reading comprehension as “the essence of reading.” It truly is the reason we... One thing to note is that although we often refer to these instructional methods as reading comprehension strategies: reading comprehension is the result of many different simultaneous processes.

In 95 Comprehension Grades 3-6, we use the word processes instead of strategies to emphasize that these things are happening while readers are reading. Strategies are considering ongoing processes, and the goal is for teachers to guide students to be aware of and use these processes so that they will eventually be able to discern between them, and... Dr. Diana Betts, early literacy expert and regional consultant manager with 95 Percent Group, underscores why this is the correct language to use when discussing reading comprehension. Explore seven powerful, research-backed reading comprehension strategies that help students in grades 3–12 become thoughtful, independent readers across all subjects. Reading comprehension is a cornerstone of academic success, yet many students struggle with fully grasping what they read.

From deciphering complex vocabulary to understanding an author’s message, students need more than just decoding skills—they need strategies. The good news? Comprehension can be taught, practiced, and improved. Whether your child is in elementary school or preparing for college entrance exams, these seven time-tested strategies can make a significant difference in how they understand and retain what they read. At ReadBuddies, we incorporate these techniques directly into our adaptive comprehension platform, ensuring that each student receives targeted support based on their Lexile level, grade, and progress. Let’s explore each strategy in depth.

Before diving into a new passage, students benefit from reflecting on what they already know about the topic. This helps them make connections between the text and their background knowledge, which improves both engagement and comprehension. Teachers can guide this process with prompts such as, “Have you ever read about this before?” or “What do you know about this topic from real life?” For example, reading a story set in... Activating prior knowledge helps the brain 'file' new information in a relevant context, improving memory and recall. Questioning is one of the most effective tools for comprehension. Skilled readers constantly ask themselves questions as they read.

This active reading habit encourages curiosity and helps students identify gaps in understanding. Before reading, students might ask, “What is this text going to be about?” During reading: “Why did the character make that choice?” After reading: “What message was the author trying to share?” Teachers can... As readers progress through grade levels, their questions should become more analytical and inference-based.

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