According to a powerful new study from Donna Recht and Lauren Leslie from Marquette University in Milwaukee, weaker readers did as well as strong readers if they had prior knowledge of a text.
"What Recht and Leslie showed was that knowledge counts much more than we think in understanding text. They point out that an emphasis on teaching reading strategies—such as finding the main idea and summarization—has become very prevalent in US classrooms based on evidence that they help weak readers. But practicing these strategies over and over has diminishing returns—and comes at the cost of a crucial missed opportunity; building knowledge is at least as important."
This implies that in order for reading comprehension instruction and intervention to be effective, it must incorporate teaching of content knowledge. Families can support this effort by taking educational trips, participating in sports activities, watching educational programs, attending cultural events, and reading materials on diverse topics to their children.
Read more about Recht and Leslie's study in the article:
The Baseball Experiment: How two Wisconsin researchers discovered that the comprehension gap is a knowledge gap by Laurence Holt
The Baseball Experiment: How two Wisconsin researchers discovered that the comprehension gap is a knowledge gap by Laurence Holt