Reading to Learn – A 7–Step Framework for Optimizing Comprehension in Pre–K–12 Classrooms

Part of WestEd's VITAL Education Series, this practical book provides a research-based, 7-step process to develop reading comprehension skills across all content areas and grade levels.

Drawing on current research and practical experience in schools and classrooms, the authors introduce the Reading to Learn Framework-seven core practices that include setting purpose, activating background knowledge, identifying text elements, anticipating and predicting, gathering information, making sense of information, and applying learning. Teachers can use the framework to scaffold comprehension through every stage of reading and across all text types including print, visual, and digital sources.

Featuring vignettes, planning tools, and classroom-ready strategies, Reading to Learn equips teachers, instructional coaches, and school leaders with a shared language and structure for comprehension instruction. It will help schools visibly improve teaching and learning by ensuring that every student becomes a strategic, confident, and independent reader.

Book Features:

• Bridges the Science of Reading and the Science of Comprehension Instruction: Extends foundational reading research into a structured framework for teaching comprehension across all grade levels and content areas.
• Practical and Accessible: Offers clear guidance, classroom vignettes, and tools for lesson planning, reflection, and implementation.
• Applicable Across Disciplines: Supports educators in teaching reading in ELA, science, social studies, mathematics, the arts, and beyond.
• Equity-Centered: Provides strategies for supporting multilingual learners and historically underserved students through explicit comprehension instruction.
• Part of the VITAL Education Series: Builds on the success of WestEd's VITAL Collaboration framework to help educators visibly improve teaching and learning.