A project developed processes for improving the reading comprehension of third- and fourth-grade students in two progressive suburban communities in northern Illinois. Analysis of probable cause data revealed that students lacked knowledge of reading strategies and a review of the district's general curriculum and textbooks revealed systematic reading instruction is not implemented after grade 2. Solution strategies, combined with an analysis of the problem setting, resulted in the selection of three categories of intervention: (1) development of activities for students at a prereading stage of instruction; (2) implementation of reading strategies during reading; and (3) contemplation and reflections after reading. All of these occurred through curricular modifications and changes in teaching practices. Prereading activities included story impressions, anticipation guide, semantic mapping and feature analysis, and vocabulary activities. During reading strategies included Directed Reading Thinking Activities (DRTA), jigsaw, Generating Interactions between Schemata and Text (GIST), ReQuest, semantic mapping, and a variety of graphic organizers. Over the course of the research time frame of October 1995 to January 1996, the more students participated in direct reading instruction, the more strategies they used while reading independently, the more interest and understanding of new and unusual vocabulary was increased. Results from post-intervention data indicated that the use of the strategies was effective in improving the reading comprehension of the targeted students. Findings suggest that the implementation of the activities dramatically increased the reading comprehension of the below grade level students. (Contains 12 figures of data and 43 references; 11 sample forms are appended.) (Author/CR)