It’s increasingly necessary for students to develop strong reading comprehension skills in order to be prepared for today’s reading-intensive academic environment and workplace. Despite this, too many of our nation’s students are reading below grade level due to a variety of factors, including lack of motivation to read, weaknesses in vocabulary and decoding skills or reading difficulties, learning differences, disabilities, or visual acuity issues.
Educators are determined to find new instruction methods to make reading more meaningful for students by leveraging the power of context and comfort in the reading process to increase student engagement, elevate reading comprehension, and support the development of lifelong reading habits.
Project Tomorrow® implemented a mixed-methods research study collecting both qualitative and quantitative data during the 2018–19 school year in grades 3–12. In addition to the whole-class and one-to-one data collected specifically for this study, the research team also utilized disidentified student data from a variety of reading assessments to explore any potential relationships between the reading of the large print books and student achievement outcomes.
The findings in this report provide new insights into the role of Thorndike Press large print books as a low-cost intervention tool to support student reading skills, development, and self-concept.
