Scarborough's Reading Rope is all the talk (for good reason),
but what is it and how do I use it?

3/19/2025

Scar-what? A reading rope? Whether you've been in education for 30 years or if you are in your first methods courses, you may have heard of something called Scarborough's Reading Rope (or if this is the first you're hearing this term, don't fret; we're going to break it down!).

There has been a noticeable, albeit slow, shift in reading instruction over the past few years as educators, administrators, parents, researchers, and policy makers are (finally) realizing that what we've been doing is not working. We know that a concerningly low percentage of students are considered proficient readers, and we all agree that this is unacceptable, but some folks either:

1. have accepted this as inevitable, 2. want to change this but don't know how, 3. want it to change but may not want to change the teaching practices they are comfortable and familiar with. 4. don't think their teaching practices or curriculum are the problem, 5. don't realize their students are part of the percentage of students not succeeding.

1. We know that low proficiency rates are not inevitable; studies show that 95% of students can learn to read proficiently with the correct instruction. 2. Although it requires a large shift for many districts, schools, teachers, and students, there are proven strategies and content that address the how. 3. Change is challenging and hard work but worth it, and you are not on your own! 4. Three words: research and evidence. 5. the right assessments are part of the shift; we should be asking ourselves, "what specific skills/literacy areas do I KNOW my students have mastered, and what areas do I KNOW they are still developing?"

If you have ever wondered any of the following questions, the reading rope is here to help:

I know some of my students struggle with reading, but I'm not sure which part to focus on.
I know my students struggle with comprehending, but how do I teach comprehension?
Teaching reading is SO broad; how do I structure my literacy block?
When I am teaching a specific text, how do I know what skills to teach?
Should I teach a comprehension strategy or a standard of the week?
How come my students can summarize or identify a main idea when we do it together, but they struggle to do this independently?
I read aloud to my students and model strategies, but I still find some students struggle to understand the text; what am I missing?

Enter Scarborough's Reading Rope with a metaphorical cape.

Image provided by International Dyslexia Association

The reading rope depicts all of the facets of reading that need to be proficient to independently and successfully comprehend a text. Comprehension is an outcome, not a skill in itself. If a reader is struggling with “comprehension,” we have to dig deeper to identify which aspect(s) of skilled reading need more instruction and development in order to comprehend that text.

Use these guiding questions to consider what areas your student(s) may be succeeding in, struggling in, or needing more instruction or practice with:

Is the reader’s word recognition/fluency accurate and efficient? If yes, continue to the next question. If not, that needs to be addressed first.

Does the reader have sufficient background knowledge on the text topic?

Is the reader familiar with the Tier 1, 2, and 3 vocabulary in the text including homophones, homonyms, and homographs
Do they know how to use morphological and contextual clues to figure out unknown words?

Does the reader have syntactic knowledge to comprehend the complex or compound sentences in the text? Do they have an understanding of clauses, phrases, conjunctions, connectives, and transitional words?

Does the reader have semantic knowledge regarding word choice, synonyms and antonyms, homonyms and homophones, and literal vs. figurative meanings of words and phrases?
Do they have knowledge and practice in order to compare, contrast, and connect words and ideas in the text?

Does the reader have reasoning and critical thinking skills?
- These include making inferences, understanding figurative language, following instructions, evaluating evidence, drawing conclusions, supporting a claim with evidence, synthesizing information, comparing and contrasting, identifying biases, making connections, monitoring comprehension, and asking questions.
  - These skills are often what people are referring to when they say “comprehension skills.”

Does the reader understand the genre, structure, and purpose of the text?
Do they understand rhetorical strategies that support the specific text structure and purpose?
Do they have an understanding of plot, setting, characterization, and conflict?
Do they have an understanding of text features and their purpose?

Other factors not in the reading rope that may affect comprehension: focus, memory, interest and motivation.

Once you have identified areas that need more explicit instruction, OR if you are designing entire text units without much curriculum, you may need some support in creating lessons or activities for each strand of the rope. Click on each strand above to find out more about that area and get access to materials and activities for your students.

Educators have wondered how the strands are connected to CCSS. The rope and standards are not in contention with each other; rather they present essential skills in a different format. Lessons can be taught using both the reading strands and standards as their guide. Below is an example of a middle school reading intervention or an intermediate elementary reading unit that incorporates the various strands of the rope along with ELA CCSS.

Text topic: People achieving incredible feats

Sub topics:

suffixes -ion, -ive
vowel combination: oo
Latin roots: sist/stat, tang/ten/tinue

Materials:

13 Year Old Girl Climbs Mount Everest (DOGO Student News)
Article 2 (DOGO Student News)
multiple articles of people accomplishing incredible feats
REWARDS Secondary Intervention
Vocab Surge
Teacher-made materials

Standards addressed:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.6.4

Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 6 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.6.5.c

Distinguish among the connotations (associations) of words with similar denotations (definitions) (e.g., stingy, scrimping, economical, unwasteful, thrifty).

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.6.1

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.6.4.b

Use common, grade-appropriate Greek or Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., audience, auditory, audible).

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.1

Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.4

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.6

Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and explain how it is conveyed in the text.

Monday (Week 1):

1. Introduce denotation vs. connotation (verbal reasoning/vocabulary)

SEL check in with shades of emotions, video, word sort: positive, negative, neutral connotations

2. REWARDS vowel combination /oo/ (word recognition/fluency)

workbook activities
fluency sentences

Tuesday (Week 1):

1. Connotation practice (verbal reasoning/vocabulary)

Shades of meaning activity

2. Introduce text topic (background knowledge)

class discussion about what makes an achievement incredible
video about Mount Everest
guided notes about Mount Everest
Google map search of Mount Everest
comparison of Mt. Rainier and Mount Everest

3. REWARDS suffixes (word recognition/fluency/vocabulary)

circle -ion, -ive in multisyllabic words
fluency sentences

Wednesday (Week 1):

1. Text preview (vocabulary and syntax)

guided notes of Tier 2 and 3 words from article with example sentences
3 syntax activities with sentences from article
- sentence anagram, unscrambling sentences, fill in the missing conjunction, sentence expansion

2. Read the article as a class (fluency, verbal reasoning)

write the author's purpose on white boards
identify evidence for author's purpose

3. REWARDS suffixes (vocabulary/fluency)

Vocab practice with focus words
write your own sentences with the focus words

Thursday (Week 1)

1. Text: second read (fluency, verbal reasoning, vocabulary)

Read the text independently
Answer multiple choice questions about author's purpose and connotation

2. REWARDS suffixes (vocabulary, syntax)

fill in the blank worksheet with the correct suffix

3. Connotation Connections Game (verbal reasoning/vocabulary)

Modeled after the NY Times Connections game, students match words with similar meanings but different connotations

Friday (Week 1)

1. Fun Friday

2. Reading Assessments

Monday (Week 2)

1. Connotation Check in (verbal reasoning, vocabulary, SEL)

Students choose varying degrees of a word to express how they feel

2. Independent text reading (verbal reasoning)

Students choose from a number of articles about people achieving incredible feats and read one independently
Students answer questions about author's purpose and connotative meanings

3. Vocab Surge (vocabulary)

introduce Latin roots sist/stat and tang/ten/tinue

Tuesday (Week 2)

1. Introduce figurative language/difference between literal and figurative (verbal reasoning)

video
game

2. Vocab Surge (vocabulary)

Latin root worksheet/fill in the blank story

Wednesday (Week 2)

1. Introduce text topic (background knowledge)

video about
guided notes about
Google map search

2. Text preview (vocabulary and syntax)

guided notes of Tier 2 and 3 words from article with example sentences
3 syntax activities with sentences from article
- sentence anagram, unscrambling sentences, fill in the missing conjunction, sentence expansion

3. Read article with a partner

Determine figurative language meanings as a class

Thursday (Week 2)

1. Figurative language practice (verbal reasoning)

Read sentences and passages and determine figurative language meaning

2. Vocab Surge (vocabulary)

Blooket review

Friday (Week 2)

Fun Friday
Reading assessments

Literary Knowledge/Text Structure

Other

Scarborough's Reading Rope is all the talk (for good reason), but what is it and how do I use it?

Scarborough's Reading Rope is all the talk (for good reason),
but what is it and how do I use it?