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Promoting Reading Comprehension

Introduction

Students join universities to achieve academic excellence, and this is realized by scoring the best grades in their studies. My current educational institution is the University of XYZ where I am the Dean of Students (School of Education).  Increasing reading comprehension among a target grade level is mandatory for academic excellence (Gallavan, 2002). The University aims at transforming academic excellence as well as enhancing students’ lives. In endeavors to improve academic excellence, the University of XYZ offers high quality education. The School of Education, in particular, majors in increasing reading comprehension to students to achieve the targeted grade for academic year 2018/2019, which is Grade A. Reading comprehension is a process that involves specific activities before, during, and after reading. Before reading, students need to be motivated to activate their background knowledge to the text content in order establish the reading objectives. During the reading, teachers need to remind learners to utilize comprehension strategies when reading to monitor their understanding and integrate the new ideas to the existing background knowledge (Gallavan, 2002). After reading, teachers need to guide students in group discussions to enhance further reading. For this assignment, an action plan of increasing reading comprehension towards scoring grade A by students in the School of Education will be crafted. The action plan will include current deficiencies, challenges, and strategies that as an educational leader, I will implement to enhance reading comprehension. A Student Sample: Click here to ORDER YOUR PAPER NOW

Action Plan

The creation of an action plan by the University of XYZ’s School of Education will assist me (as the Dean of School) in turning the institution’s visions into a reality as well as increasing accountability and efficiency. The vision of the School of Education is enhancing reading comprehension to students to achieve grade A which is our target. The action plan will describe the means through which XYZ University will realize the set goals through detailed 3-step actions. The action plan will analyze the University’s current deficiencies, challenges, and strategies being used to improve reading comprehension among the targeted grade (A).

Current Deficiencies

A study conducted by students in the School of Business in 2016 revealed that most students find comprehending reading to be difficult.  Reading traditional texts is difficult for students to comprehend the content and transfer it to an examination (Gallavan, 2002). As a result, the University of XYZ; especially the School of Education is facing grade deficiency from its targeted grade A level. The increased inability to meet the target grade by the School has established various flaws on the side of teachers, learners, and the university at large. The below are current deficiencies through which the institution is subjected;

Visual processing deficits: Recent studies about the University’s drop in performance reveal that there are deficits in visual processing modes by both students and educators. To accommodate this functional deficiency, using audio input while reading the same text by students is required. As the Dean of School, I will provide adequate reading space for students to minimize distractions.

Poor grade scores by students: Lack of proper reading comprehension by students is leading to poor marks score. Comparison of 2015 and 2016 graduates show how the gap is getting widened through which students continue to fail. There was a 22 percent drop from student scoring First Class Honors’ and 2^nd Upper Division between 2015 and 2016. This drop in scores is much attributed to poor reading comprehension by students.

The low number of teachers in the institution: Reading comprehension by students is facilitated by educators. However, the School of Education has the lowest number of lecturers in the whole university hence failed guidance to students on how to comprehend text content. This discrepancy between our school and other disciplines contributes to the failed scoring of the target grade (Brown, 2002). As a leader, I am advocating for an increase in the number of lecturer’s to facilitate reading comprehension hence enhance students ability to score the target grade.

Leaners reluctance in making timetables and predictions: A survey by education students in the university show that there is a drop of 40 percent when it comes to student’s ability to make predictions between 2015 and 2016. The discrepancy is subjecting both the educators and readers to the risk of poor grade score. As a leader, I will advocate that all educators encourage readers to make predictions and timetables about what to read as they await their text demonstration in the class. A Student Sample: Click here to ORDER YOUR PAPER NOW

Current Challenges

The implementation of comprehension action plan is a challenging task for teachers. As teachers implement reader comprehension strategies in the University, they encounter students’ resistance and frustrations from their shortcomings about the text (Graves, Juel & Graves, 2001). The Current challenges facing the students and teachers in the institution include:

Comprehension difficulties: Students are suffering from an inability to comprehend the text content hence their inability to score the target grade. As an educational leader, I will advocate for peer mentorship, graphic organizer, visual presentations, and the connection of text content to real life experiences by educators before teaching to ensure all readers comprehend the text.

Fluency issues: Readers are encountering fluency challenging on the text content, this hence is impairing the rate of comprehension hence their poor grade score. As the dean of School, I will provide readers with conducive opportunities for independent reading and advocate for guided and oral reading by educators on students (Brown, 2002). I will also finance for tracking tools to help teachers guide students in proper text comprehension.

Decoding challenged: Readers are experiencing decoding difficulties hence their inability to comprehend text content which is resulting in poor grade scoring. As an educational leader, I will finance for decoding programs, reading pens and assistive technology to boost students ability to comprehend the text.

Writing challenges: Writing difficulties impairs students’ rate of text comprehension while reading. To resolve the problem, students will be encouraged to use reference materials such as dictionary and word prediction software hence boosting their grades.

Current Strategies

The action plan is guided by strategies that students can implement during the reading process to enhance their content comprehension. Here, a crucial distinction between what the educators are doing to enhance reading comprehension and what the students are doing to comprehend the text is made (Blachowicz & Ogle, 2001). Comprehension may break down- this calls for strategies that students can implement to restore their comprehension. As the dean of the School, I have been encouraging teachers to begin comprehension instructions to model reader strategies. The action plan will involve strategies taken before, during and after reading by teachers and students to enhance text comprehension. The strategies that as the educational leader in the University of XYZ will implement are as below;

Teacher/educator strategies are techniques that I propose they utilize in teaching students how to read and its applicability in the text content. Although the educator techniques and students reading strategies I propose are not new to the institution, we will ground their applicability in easing readers’ ability to comprehend reading given their continued struggle on reading the course contents offered by the educators in the School of Education (Gallavan, 2002). During the reading phase, readers are encouraged to read primary sources other than other disciplines. In relation to deficiencies and challenges identified present in the institution, the following strategies will be implemented to counter all the functional limitations:

1. Modeling “good reader” strategies – The involve watching videos, looking at pictures, chapter headings, diagrams and maps by students.
2. Implementation of assistive technology that facilitates students decoding programs

• Implement the provision of opportunities for independent reading for students

1. Implementation of a guided and repeated oral reading to enhance fluency
2. Implementation of peer mentorship programs to check for students understandings hence solving comprehension difficulties
3. Implement the use of visual representations to enhance readers text comprehension

The above strategies and actions must be undertaken with the teachers to accomplish the goal of increasing reading comprehension by students to score Grade A as targeted.

As the educational leader, the implementation of above strategies and actions to improve reading comprehension of the students will adhere to a strict timeline as shown below in the table;

Conclusion

In conclusion, increasing reading comprehension greatly contribute to improving students’ performance and attainment of the targeted grade. Deficiencies in reading comprehension lead to poor performance and students’ inability to score the minimum grade. Educational leaders need to craft action plans and implement strategies for improving comprehension. In XYZ’s action plan, the School of Business needs to establish peer mentorship programs, guide students on effective reading, establish a conducive reading environment, and other strategies for enhancing reading comprehension among students. As the educational leader, I will implement all the strategies discussed in the study in strict adherence to set timelines to enable both teachers and readers accomplish the goals of increasing reading comprehension towards the targeted grade. A Student Sample: Click here to ORDER YOUR PAPER NOW

References

Blachowicz, C., & Ogle, D.E. (2001). Reading comprehension: Strategies for independent learners. New York: Guilford.

Brown, R. (2002). Straddling two worlds: Self-directed comprehension instruction for middle schoolers. In C.C. Block & M. Pressley (Eds.), Comprehension instruction: Research-based best practices (pp. 337–350). New York: Guilford.

Gallavan, N.P. (2002). After the reading assignment: Strategies for leading student-centered Classroom conversations. Social Studies, 93, 267–271

Graves, M., Juel, C., & Graves, B. (2001). Teaching reading in the 21st century (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.