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We focused on six strategies designed to strengthen vocabulary development, deepen reading comprehension, and increase students' memory of what they read: (1) direct, explicit instruction in vocabulary; (2) note taking; (3) interactive lecture techniques; (4) compare and contrast methods; (5) formative and summative assessments; and (6) inductive reasoning and inferential skills. Teachers coordinated these literacy strategies with their classroom content. After trying each strategy, we collected data to determine how successful we'd been in giving students tools to help them access complex texts.

Sophisticated reading habits are a necessary foundation for college-level writing, research, class participation, and many other college experiences. Yet in one study of first-generation college student experiences, Byrd and MacDonald (2005) found that "college reading was an area in which participants felt particularly underprepared [especially regarding] vocabulary level and the amount of reading required" (p. 32). Developing strong reader identities and practicing thoughtful, transferable reading skills across the disciplines are important components of any pre-college curriculum, but they are especially crucial for low-income students whose college completion rates are much lower than those of their middle-income peers (Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, 2010; Carey, 2008).