A few years ago, most of the students at Lansdowne Elementary were struggling readers: while many could recognize words, half were unable to under stand the stories they'd just read. Not surprisingly, these kids weren't interested in books. The problem wasn't Why Johnnie Can't Read, but more specifically, Why Johnnie Can't Understand--and the answer had a lot to do with poverty. How did the school turn this situation around? By recognizing that the teaching staff needed to overhaul the way it taught reading comprehension. This article describes the five steps the school took to transform apathetic students into eager, active readers.