Schools spend three-quarters of their reading instructional time on things other than teaching kids how to actually understand the text. You cannot assume the "how-to" of comprehension is happening automatically in the classroom.
Elementary teachers devote only about one-quarter of their reading instructional time to explicitly teaching children strategies for understanding what they read.
Most parents assume that if a child is "reading," they are learning how to process information. But there is a massive difference between decoding words on a page and building a mental model of what those words mean. If your child is struggling to follow a plot or a set of instructions, they might be missing the specific mental tools—like summarizing or predicting—that aren't always the focus of classroom time.
This matters because the "fourth-grade slump"—where kids who were good readers suddenly struggle—is often a comprehension crisis. When the books get harder and the pictures disappear, kids who haven't been taught how to self-monitor their understanding often hit a wall. Knowing that schools may only spend 15 minutes out of every hour on these specific skills means the "active" part of reading often has to happen at home.
Researchers wanted to know if the "comprehension revolution" in educational theory actually made it into real classrooms. Despite decades of evidence showing that explicit strategy instruction works, there was a persistent suspicion that teachers were still spending more time testing comprehension (asking questions to see if a kid got it) than teaching it (showing kids how to find the answers in the first place). The study aimed to quantify exactly how a teacher's clock is divided during the reading block.
In 3,000 minutes of direct observation across 20 classrooms, teachers spent just 751 minutes on explicit comprehension instruction.
- The 3rd grade dip: 3rd-grade students received the least amount of comprehension instruction, while 4th-graders received the most.
- The big three: When teachers did teach comprehension, they leaned heavily on three specific tools: answering questions, summarizing the plot, and making predictions based on prior knowledge.
- The gap: Seventy-five percent of "reading time" was occupied by other activities like fluency practice, silent reading, or administrative tasks, leaving the actual mechanics of understanding as a minority activity.
The data suggests a "sink or swim" approach in the early elementary years. Because instruction is often focused on the mechanics of how to read—phonics, speed, and accuracy—the mental heavy lifting of what it means is often left to the student to figure out by osmosis.
The dip in 3rd grade is particularly concerning. This is the pivotal year where students transition from "learning to read" to "reading to learn." If instruction drops off during this transition, children who haven't intuitively picked up comprehension strategies are left without a safety net just as the material becomes significantly more complex.
This study looked at only 20 classrooms in the United States, which is a tiny window into a massive and diverse education system. It is also an observational study, meaning it can tell us what teachers are doing, but it cannot prove that 25% is the "wrong" amount of time or that doubling it would definitely guarantee better results. Finally, the data is from 2011; while many core teaching methods remain the same, newer curriculum standards may have shifted the time-allocation balance in your specific school district.
- If your child is in 3rd grade, pay extra attention to whether they can narrate a story back to you, as this grade level saw the lowest amount of direct comprehension support in class.
- If your child struggles with complex stories, model "predicting" by stopping halfway through a page and saying, "Based on what we know about this character, I think they will do [X]—what do you think?"
- If your child can't tell you what a book was about after finishing a chapter, have them give you a "one-sentence summary" before they are allowed to turn the next page or close the book.
- If you want to mirror the most effective classroom habits, focus on the "Big Three" during home reading: ask a specific question about the text, ask for a summary of the action, and ask for a prediction of what comes next.
You are likely your child’s most consistent instructor for reading comprehension. Don't assume the "how-to" of deep understanding is being fully covered during the school day; instead, use simple habits like summarization and prediction to turn passive page-turning into active thinking.
Ness, Molly (2011). Explicit Reading Comprehension Instruction in Elementary Classrooms: Teacher Use of Reading Comprehension Strategies. Journal of Research in Childhood Education. — http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&id=doi:10.1080/02568543.2010.531076