"Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day…" - 5 new articles

War Stories uses AI to generate short graphic stories about famous battles in world history.

It seems to be free and, as far as I can tell, the stories appear to be accurate.  They list sources at the end, for whatever that’s worth.

     

Ronile / Pixabay

The Statue of Liberty arrived in the US by ship 141 years ago on this day (Donald Trump and members of his administration probably would have preferred if it hadn’t).

You might be interested in The Best Sites For Learning About The Statue Of Liberty.

     

geralt / Pixabay

June 20th is World Refugee Day.

You might be interested in The Best Sites For Learning About World Refugee Day.

     

RosZie / Pixabay

Interventions for students with reading difficulties in Grades 4-12: A systematic review and meta-analysis is a new study that’s not behind a paywall.

Unfortunately, it’s also another all-too-common example of researchers writing up a study that few, if any, teachers are going to worth through to learn findings useful to classroom practice.

After re-reading it a couple of time, and asking ChatGPT for help, here is what seems to be the primary conclusions:

• Prioritize vocabulary development.

• Use structured comprehension instruction.

Fair enough.

But you really have to dig to find out what specific “structure comprehension instruction” they’re talking about. Here’s where ChatGPT came in (I’m adding this info to The Best Posts On Reading Strategies & Comprehension – Help Me Find More!):

Here are the specific types of structured comprehension strategies that were common in the studies reviewed — and that align with what showed positive effects:

1️⃣ Explicit Strategy Instruction (Teacher-Modeled)

These interventions typically used a gradual release model:

• Teacher models the strategy (“I do”)

• Guided practice with scaffolding (“We do”)

• Independent application (“You do”)

Common strategies taught explicitly:

• Identifying main idea

• Summarizing paragraphs or sections

• Generating questions

• Making inferences

• Monitoring for understanding (fix-up strategies)

• Identifying text structure

This is not generic discussion — it is direct instruction in how to think while reading.

2️⃣ Text Structure Instruction

Many comprehension programs in Grades 4–12 explicitly taught:

• Narrative structure (setting, problem, resolution)

• Informational text structures:

  • Cause–effect

  • Compare–contrast

  • Problem–solution

  • Sequence

Students were taught to:

• Recognize signal words

• Use graphic organizers aligned to structure

• Summarize based on structure

This is particularly powerful in secondary content areas.

3️⃣ Reciprocal Teaching–Type Approaches

Some interventions used structured discussion formats involving:

• Predicting

• Questioning

• Clarifying

• Summarizing

The key is that these roles are explicitly taught and practiced, not assumed.

4️⃣ Inference Training

Adolescents with reading difficulties often struggle with inferencing.

Effective interventions included:

• Teaching students how to combine text clues + background knowledge

• Sentence-level and paragraph-level inference exercises

• Guided practice identifying implicit meaning

5️⃣ Vocabulary Embedded in Comprehension

Because vocabulary had the strongest overall effect in the meta-analysis 

many effective comprehension programs integrated:

• Explicit teaching of academic vocabulary

• Morphological analysis (prefixes, suffixes, roots)

• Pre-teaching key terms before reading

This suggests comprehension instruction works best when paired with word knowledge work.

6️⃣ Multicomponent Structured Programs

The review found that multicomponent interventions were common and effective 

These typically combined:

• Word study

• Vocabulary

• Fluency practice

• Comprehension strategy instruction

Rather than isolating one skill.

7️⃣ Scaffolded Practice with Feedback

Successful programs were structured with:

• Scripted or semi-scripted lessons

• Clear routines

• Frequent checks for understanding

• Immediate corrective feedback

Not loosely facilitated discussion.

What This Means Practically

For Grades 4–12 struggling readers, “comprehension instruction” that works tends to be:

✔ Explicit
✔ Structured
✔ Strategy-based
✔ Vocabulary-rich
✔ Repeated with guided practice

It is not:

• Independent silent reading alone

• Generic comprehension questions

• Fluency drills as a substitute for comprehension work

If You’re Thinking About Classroom Application

The strongest evidence from this review suggests that in upper grades:

• Teaching students how to read informational text strategically matters.

• Teaching academic vocabulary systematically matters even more.

• Structured whole-class instruction can work — it doesn’t have to be pull-out only

     

Mohamed_hassan / Pixabay

I often write about research studies from various fields and how they can be applied to the classroom. I write individual posts about ones that I think are especially significant, and will continue to do so. However, so many studies are published that it’s hard to keep up. So I’ve started writing a “round-up” of some of them each week or every other week as a regular feature.

You can see all my “Best” lists related to education research here.

Here are some new useful studies (and related resources):

Summer school was a go‑to recovery strategy for districts after the pandemic—but was it effective? New brief from @nwea.bsky.social & CALDER explores the effects of summer school on student achievement & how its scale & impact compared to other interventions.

Read👉 caldercenter.org/publications…

— CALDER Center (@caldercenter.bsky.social) December 5, 2025 at 8:22 AM

HELPING STUDENTS MAKE IT TO COLLEGE: EVIDENCE-BASED DESIGN PRINCIPLES FOR REDUCING SUMMER MELT is from Ed Research For Action.

Impressive new RCT on professional learning/teacher beliefs/instructional practices.

It uses a team-based, theory-driven, methodologically rigorous & large scale research design to uncover core insights about increasing student engagement & learning.

www.researchgate.net/publication/…

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— Matthew A Kraft (@matthewakraft.com) December 12, 2025 at 7:20 AM

Success is not about finishing everything you start. It’s about knowing when to grit and when to quit.

235 studies: When people adjust their goals and plans in the face of challenges, they make more progress—and feel less depressed and anxious.

The ultimate flex is flexibility. pic.twitter.com/icxOY1NHEX

— Adam Grant (@AdamMGrant) December 12, 2025

Growth Mindset, PISA and the Limits of Correlation is from Experience To Meaning.

We know that public schools saw student engagement drop after COVID. But what about charters? New CALDER paper finds that despite greater flexibility, charters experienced similar drops in engagement on average, with considerable state variation.

Read 👉 caldercenter.org/publications…

— CALDER Center (@caldercenter.bsky.social) December 15, 2025 at 10:36 AM