Executive Skills and Reading Comprehension ― A Guide for Educators

How do K-12 students become self-regulated learners who actively deploy comprehension strategies to make meaning from texts? This cutting-edge guide is the first book to highlight the importance of executive skills for improving reading comprehension. Chapters review the research base for particular executive functions--such as planning, organization, cognitive flexibility, and impulse control--and present practical skills-building strategies for the classroom. Detailed examples show what each skill looks like in real readers, and sidebars draw explicit connections to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Reproducible planning and assessment forms can be downloaded and printed in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size.

Kelly B. Cartwright, PhD, is Professor of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Teacher Preparation at Christopher Newport University, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in cognitive, language, and literacy processes. Her research focuses on the development of skilled reading comprehension and the neurocognitive and affective factors that underlie comprehension processes and difficulties from preschool through adulthood. Dr. Cartwright is the editor of the book Literacy Processes: Cognitive Flexibility in Learning and Teaching. She regularly works with teachers in schools throughout the United States to better understand and improve comprehension instruction for struggling readers.