ABSTRACT
Results of the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress reading assessment revealed that scores have improved only slightly and we still have much work to do. Thirty-three percent of fourth graders and 26% of eighth graders are still below basic level and a substantial gap continues to exist between White students and their Black and Hispanic peers (Lee, Grigg, & Donahue, 2008). In addition, during the 2007-2008 school year, almost 30,000 schools failed to make adequate yearly progress under the No Child Left Behind Act and almost 1 in 5 of the nation’s public schools missed their target for annual yearly progress for 2 years or more and are now facing federal sanctions (Hoff, 2008). Educators, policymakers, families, and communities are concerned about these results, and efforts to improve instruction and education have garnered a good deal of attention from all quarters. Faced with this daunting task, many educators and researchers agree that a primary challenge is to understand and meet the wide range of student needs in reading and, ultimately, improve their performance.
