Reading more
Do increased opportunities to read allow high school learners:

• to better engage in science inquiry?
• to increase their reading achievement?

Reading more purposefully
Are more structured reading opportunities in science connected to learners’ science achievement?

We have designed three key components to increase science and reading achievement. First, we are making science text more considerate for learners. Considerate text refers to connected text that is structurally helpful to the reader and that is, in terms of content, helpful to the teacher in connecting reading to science content. For example, considerate text might make use of structures like section headings, bolded words, or questions within the extended text in order to guide the reader through the reading. Second, we are building and employing tools designed to support learners’ literacy in science inquiry. We are designing and implementing various tools, described in the next panels, to support learners’ reflective reading in science. Third, we will provide literacy-focused professional development that is specifically designed to support literacy during science teaching. In particular, the professional development will focus on helping teachers to use evidence of reading comprehension to shape and modify science instruction.

Problems of Practice Targeted by ROLE

1. Adolescents do not have adequate skills to read-to-learn in science Consequently, they do not leverage texts to engage in inquiry. They are poorly prepared for domain-specific content area science reading requirements and lack strategic literacy skills to support the kind of reading necessary for success in high school and beyond.
2. Science teachers do not sufficiently use texts to support students’ science achievement Content area teachers are often under-prepared to use text in their teaching

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