Promoting At-Risk Preschool Children’s Comprehension through Research-Based Strategy Instruction

Young children living in poor urban neighborhoods are often at risk for reading difficulties, in part because developing listening comprehension strategies and vocabulary knowledge may not be a priority in their prekindergarten classrooms, whose curriculums typically focus heavily on phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge. Prereading comprehension strategies are instrumental in developing skilled readers and significant to future academic success; their absence in preschool classrooms may contribute to challenges children face while learning to read. This article examines an exploratory investigation in two low-income public prekindergarten classrooms where children received an eight-week intervention to develop intentional comprehension strategies. Implications of this work for teachers and teacher educators are also addressed