Chapter 2: Teaching Key Reading Skills

Reading ability is considered so fundamental to children’s overall success that reading instruction garners the highest percentage of school time in elementary schools (Hoyer & Sparks, 2017). Moreover, poor reading performance is more likely than any other academic area to be used as the reason for denying students promotion to the next grade or requiring them to attend summer school (National Education Association, 2016), and can even lead to withholding teen drivers’ licenses (47 Oklahoma Statute, Sec. 6-107, c). Given the central role reading plays in formal education and transition to adult functioning, it is not surprising that reading difficulties would be highly predictive of delinquency and school dropout (Anderson, Howard, & Graham, 2007; Wood, Kiperman, Esch, Leroux, & Truscott, 2017).