Soar to Success

Soar to Success is a reading intervention for students in grades 3-8 who are reading below grade level.  It is used in addition to a school’s core reading program.  Two primary goals of this intervention are: to accelerate student’s ability to read, and to help students to quickly and increase their understanding of what they read through an approach called reciprocal teaching.  Essentially, reciprocal teaching is a lively dialogue between the teacher and the students where students are taught to use the cognitive strategies of summarizing, clarifying, questioning, and predicting.

Instruction for Soar to Success occurs in small groups of 5 – 7 students that meet 2 to 3 times per week for 30 – 40 minute lessons.  Each lesson consists of 5 parts:  revisiting, rehearsing, reading and reciprocal teaching, and responding/reflecting.

Soar to Success contains instruction in four of the critical components of reading outlined by the National Reading Panel and Reading first: phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.  Comprehension instruction is the primary thrust of Soar to Success and it is designed to develop students’ awareness of where and when to apply specific strategies.

The design and content of the program reflect a solid research base and there is a relatively strong beginning level of evidence for the programs efficacy.

Strengths of SOAR:

• The highly organized all-inclusive nature of the teacher’s manual will serve as a helpful guide throughout the program.

• SOAR to Success lessons use high interest, age appropriate books with narratives and expository text.

• The strategies in reciprocal teaching have a validated research base.

• The teacher connects comprehension strategy use to the deeper understanding of other content area texts.

• The graphic organizers that accompany the lessons can be effective tools for visually representing the key concepts and ideas of the reading.

• Strong teacher support is gradually faded to facilitate students’ independence in the reading process.

• Ongoing assessment with oral reading fluency and retell checks help guide instruction.

Weaknesses of SOAR:

• None are noted.

Source:  Florida Center for Reading Research