Abstract of

Building Fluency, Word-Recognition Ability, and Confidence in Struggling Readers: The Poetry Academy

Lori G. Wilfong

The purpose of this article is to describe a strategy called the Poetry Academy used to boost reading skills in elementary school students. The Poetry Academy paired struggling readers with a community volunteer to read poetry on a weekly schedule to practice fluency, work on word recognition abilities, and build confidence.

A research study took place to examine the efficacy of the strategy. Findings reveal that significant gains were made in the treatment group when compared with the control group in the areas of words correct per minute, word recognition, and attitude toward academic reading, while a marginally significant gain was made in the area of comprehension. Change in the members of the treatment group was observed by the students, teachers, parents, and volunteers and included an increase in confidence when reading and improved attitude toward school.

Abstract from Wilfong, L.G. (2008, September). Building Fluency, Word-Recognition Ability, and Confidence in Struggling Readers: The Poetry Academy. The Reading Teacher, 62(1), 4–13. doi: 10.1598/RT.62.1.1

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