Public policies to strengthen reading comprehension: a comparative analysis of Colombia,
Ecuador, Mexico and Venezuela
Abstract
Despite the intense flow of information that can be accessed today, reading comprehension is in a
critical situation in different societies, which makes it necessary to implement public policies that
comprehensively address this problem. In the educational field, these interventions involve
different actors, including directors and teachers, who are aware of student shortcomings and are
the ones who, from their pedagogical management, implement and lead the necessary actions to
reorient educational processes, directing them towards the achievement of goals and the
attainment of academic objectives that, over time, become increasingly closer to global standards
of educational quality. In this sense, the objective of this research was to comparatively analyze
some of the public reading policies of Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Venezuela. To do so, the
study was based on the postulates of Machado, Magalón and Rodríguez (2019), Escalante (2019),
Cassany (2004), among others. A documentary review was conducted of the educational policies
implemented by government entities and a look at the most recent results of evaluations by
international organizations that are responsible for quantifying progress in school matters,
particularly reading comprehension. The results showed that these policies implemented,
although they have required significant administrative, financial and logistical efforts, have not
achieved significant progress in strengthening reading comprehension in students.
Keywords: Public policies; pedagogical management; reading comprehension.
Introducción
El brindar una educación de calidad debe ser el norte de todo ente que dirige el ámbito
educativo de una nación. En este sentido, quienes forman parte de los procesos de gestión de las
actividades educativas deben esmerarse en brindar una educación optimizada, que logre equipar a
los estudiantes con las herramientas y destrezas necesarias para su desempeño escolar y así
fortalecer sus competencias académicas. Es allí donde cobra relevancia el diseño e
implementación de políticas púbicas pertinentes, que brinden la posibilidad de dar respuesta a las
reales necesidades de los escolares y que, a la vez, ayuden a contrarrestar las debilidades
académicas, procurando así proveer una educación acorde con las exigencias de la sociedad.
La temática de la enseñanza de la comprensión lectora como instrumento del aprendizaje
permanente en todos los campos del saber humano, ha sido objeto de estudio por parte de
distintos autores, tales como Ausubel en 1963, Solé en 1992, Díaz Barriga en 2002 y Cassany en