The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk (MCPER) partnered with the University of Houston, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Texas A&M University, and Florida State University to improve the reading comprehension of students in grades 7 through 12. The focused program of research of the project, Promoting Adolescents’ Comprehension of Text (PACT), was designed to answer key questions about the role of cognitive processes, motivation, engagement, and components of interventions to improve reading comprehension. Between 2010 and 2015, the project conducted a series of integrated research studies with the following overarching aims:
1. Improve the knowledge of cognitive processes associated with reading comprehension to identify malleable processes that may be targets for intervention
2. Provide knowledge about the role of engagement and motivation in enhancing reading comprehension outcomes
3. Integrate and apply the findings from these studies and the empirical bases to develop and test the efficacy of interventions for students with reading comprehension difficulties in grades 7 through 12
Most of the studies conducted under the PACT project were randomized controlled trials.
