Using Higher Order Questioning to Accelerate Students’ Growth in Reading

The purpose of this article is to describe the changes in reading instruction that teachers made that contributed to students’ growth in reading. Teachers made the transition from instruction that was primarily teacher‐directed and focused on lower‐level questions to instruction that supported students in their higher order talk and writing about texts. These teachers worked with diverse student populations in schools that had previously struggled to make adequate yearly progress, yet across three years of reading reform their students continued to make important gains in their reading achievement. These findings and examples may stimulate reflection and challenge other reading professionals to consider important research‐validated elements of effective reading instruction.