News and ActivitiesFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE The Institute Nears Completion on Formation of the WASHINGTON - The National Institute for Literacy is now in the final stages of establishing the Commission on Reading Research, a national panel to review research on how students in kindergarten through grade 12 learn to read and the effectiveness of various approaches to teaching reading. Letters of invitation have been extended to prospective commissioners and five of those have been accepted. The Commission will consist of up to 12 members with established backgrounds in research on reading, education, and affiliated domains. Members will serve for a two-year period beginning with an inaugural meeting expected to be scheduled for summer 2007. "The Institute looks forward to the contribution the Commission will make to our knowledge of reading and reading instruction and anticipates working with organizations like the International Reading Association to help educators use the Commission's findings so that all children can become successful readers," said Sandra L. Baxter, Ed.D. director of the Institute. Said Baxter: "In 2000, the National Reading Panel established the scientific basis and critical components of reading instruction. This new panel will build on that work and provide educators with more information to help them base their instruction on sound, scientific principles." To carry out its mandate under No Child Left Behind to disseminate findings from scientifically-based reading research for adults, youth, and children, the Institute has provided support for three other national panels. After the National Reading Panel finished its work in 2000, the Institute assumed responsibility for disseminating the final report and also developed publications based on the report's findings, such as Put Reading First: The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read, K-3. In collaboration with the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy, the Institute also convened a panel of experts on adult reading research and practice, the Reading Research Working Group. The panel identified and evaluated existing research in adult literacy reading instruction and made its findings available in Research-Based Principles for Adult Basic Education Reading Instruction. The Institute funded a literature review that became the impetus for the National Literacy Panel on Language Minority Children and Youth, funded by the Institute for Education Sciences. This panel has conducted a comprehensive, evidence-based review of the research literature on the development of literacy among language minority children and youth. In addition, the Institute has partnered with the Head Start Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to fund the National Early Literacy Panel, which is currently conducting a synthesis of the research on young children's acquisition of literacy skills. "It is critical to continue providing information based on findings from scientific research to practitioners and administrators - to the people who are working with children every day," Dr. Baxter said. "Using research is what allows teachers to go beyond their personal experience in the classroom and improve their instructional practice." CONTACT: B. Denise Hawkins |
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