The purpose of this control-group study was to investigate the effects of using the Embedded Story Structure (ESS) Routine in a secondary literature class to improve student reading comprehension. Seventy-nine ninth-grade students, including 14 individuals with learning disabilities were randomly assigned to two conditions with instruction occurring in groups of twelve to fourteen students in general education classes over a nine-day period. ESS instruction focused on three reading strategies including: (a) student self-questioning, (b) story-structure analysis, and (c) summarizing. Control instruction was comprised of a package of research-based interventions. Results indicated statistically significant differences between groups in favor of the ESS Routine on measures of strategy use, unit reading comprehension, and story-structure knowledge. Moreover, results indicated equivalent gains for students in the ESS Routine regardless of standardized test national percentile score or disability diagnosis. Social validity measures indicated a high degree of student satisfaction with instruction.
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