The strongest is reading for literary experience. Generally, students on the test are writing very little when asked to respond to reading, or they are rewriting the question to fill the space and then using whatever lines remain to give a general and unfocused answer. They do not explain or elaborate on what they mean. And they do not explain what in the text or their lives justifies the answer. We need to do a little analysis of the situation and determine a new course of treatment.
Every good investigation begins with what is known.
We know that, in reading, Howard County elementary schools have made remarkable improvement, while middle schools have not. Not at all. Let's take a closer look at the difference between the delivery of reading instruction at elementary and middle school levels to see if there are any distinguishing factors. Elementary language arts instruction differs from middle in several significant ways. When they shift to instruction in science, social studies, and math, they carry with them what they know about reading for information and to perform a task, and they apply it to instruction in the content area.