The gradual release of responsibility model offers a scaffolded approach to teaching reading comprehension strategies with young readers. In this model, teachers begin with a clear explanation and demonstration of a strategy followed by giving students more and more independence in practicing and applying the strategy over time.

Step 1: Read

The following graphic demonstrates how a teacher might gradually release responsibility to students as they become more comfortable independently using these strategies:

Explain: Teacher explicitly describes and explains use of the strategy. This results in high teacher responsibility and low student responsibility.
Model: Teacher and/or student (with teacher supervision) provide clear modeling of the strategy in use. This still results in high teacher responsibility, and may result in an increase in student responsibility.
Collaborative Use: Teacher and students work together to practice use of the strategy. This results in slightly less teacher responsibility than student responsibility.
Guided Practice: Students practice the strategy using scaffolds and support provided by the teacher. This results in low teacher responsibility and high student responsibility.
Independent Use: Students practice using the strategy independently. This results in little to no teacher responsibility and complete student responsibility.

A color coded bar chart represents the share of responsibility for each of the classroom tasks described above.
The graphic and content are adapted from the following sources:
Duke, N.K., & Pearson, P.D. (2002), Effective practices for developing reading comprehension. In A.E. Farstup & S.J. Samules (Eds), What research has to say about reading instruction (3rd ed., pp. 205-242). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Pearson, P.D. and M.C. Gallagher. (1983). The instruction of reading comprehension. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 8(3), 317-344.
Shanahan, T., Callison, K., Carriere, C., Duke, N.K., Pearson, P.D., Schatschneider, C., & Torgesen, J. (2010). Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade (NCEE 2010-4038). National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.

Step 2: Watch

Watch the following video about gradual release of responsibility. As you watch, think about how you are currently incorporating parts of this model into your instruction and how you might use it for reading comprehension strategy instruction. Consider the questions in the next step below for added reflection.

A Gradual Release of Responsibility

(3:59 min, CC) - Transcript

(Doing What Works, n.d.)

Step 3: Reflect

Reminder: You may wish to capture your responses to these questions in your Journal Space.

How would you teach a reading comprehension strategy, such as drawing inferences or visualizing, using the gradual release of responsibility model?
Which steps of the gradual release of responsibility model do you think you do well? Are there steps where you’d want more practice?
Other ideas: How often do you use the gradual release model? Are there steps where you have less experience or that have proven to be more difficult? What are the different ways you support students during the collaborative use and guided practice steps?