Supporting Elementary Students’ Reading of Difficult Texts

This article was inspired by the fact that teachers have been asked to increase the difficulty of texts that students encounter without clear guidance on how to support their students when reading difficult texts. First, findings are presented from a recent review that investigated the effects of increased text difficulty on elementary students’ fluency and comprehension. Then, the authors draw on additional literature that provided practical recommendations for determining text difficulty, selecting texts, and supporting students when reading difficult texts. A planning template for small-group instruction is provided to help elementary teachers address vocabulary and knowledge demands associated with difficult texts before reading, provide fluency and comprehension scaffolds according to students’ instructional needs during repeated reading, and ask text-dependent questions after reading that support and consolidate learning from difficult texts.