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This study examined the hypothesis that assisted writing during reading improves reading comprehension. The hypothesis was derived from sociocognitive and constructivist theory and research and implemented in the form of a curricular intervention called Writing Intensive Reading Comprehension after its main feature of bringing together reading comprehension and writing. The study used instruction with interactive thinksheets to provide sustained, focused, and assisted writing experiences to help students in low‐performing urban schools construct understandings of their reading. The study used a cluster randomized trial design. Results support the hypothesis that bringing together reading and writing through instruction using thinksheets produces levels of reading comprehension superior to traditional instruction. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses of pretest and posttest data from 1,062 fourth‐ and fifth …