What Really Matters for Struggling Readers: Designing Research-Based Programs

The Second Edition of this bestselling book includes a new section on No Child Left Behind as well as research sections on reading fluency, comprehension strategies, interventions for struggling readers, and vocabulary development and instruction. What Really Matters for Struggling Readers helps teachers design reading remediation and intervention programs around well-established reality- and research-based components. Nationally-recognized scholar and author Dick Allington offers easy-to-understand interpretations of research that support important principles and shows teachers how to use a variety of best practices with children who are struggling readers.

“Allington has rediscovered the gold from among the innumerable nuggets of reading research ore…he values the reader’s specific interests and needs, but does not overwhelm.”
M. Priscilla Myers, Santa Clara University

“The author uses realistic examples from teachers and classrooms to illustrate effective, meaningful reading instruction with struggling readers. A teacher teaching other teachers is a powerful model for reforming instruction.”
Jo Ann Dugan, Ohio University

A must-have reading resource by nationally recognized scholar and author Richard Allington!

In his unique and expert voice, Allington delivers a concise and balanced introduction to reading remediation, intervention programs, and the topic of struggling readers in grades 2—9. The second edition of What Really Matters for Struggling Readers includes new research on vocabulary development and expanded research on fluency and comprehension. It continues to focus on helping teachers design reading remediation and intervention programs around well-established reality- and research-based components, framing them within the confines of the No Child Left Behind Act.

What Really Matters for Struggling Readers’ easy-to-understand interpretations of research that support key principles of effective instructional design, along with its guidance for teachers on how to use a variety of best practices with children who are struggling readers, have made this a best-selling book!

Take a Peek inside the Second Edition

• New! Research on the role of choice in motivating reading activity and development
• New! A procedure for evaluating your school’s success in meeting the needs of struggling readers
• New! At-a-glance chart that correlates reading research to Reading First
• New! Section on expanding vocabulary as a component of comprehension development
• Guidance on monitoring volume of reading and creating interventions that expand reading activity
• Instructional models and methods for fostering fluency
• Includes comprehension strategy instruction with a focus on developing higher-order comprehension and discussion