Conference Spotlights Research Issues

“We can’t treat ‘literacy’ as a bounded problem to be solved,” said Catherine E. Snow of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the keynote speaker at the Reading Research 2008 conference, held on Saturday, May 3, in Atlanta, Georgia, just prior to the IRA Annual Convention. “Even if we could, that would be insufficient to ensure improved educational outcomes.”

Citing a wide range of research, Snow delivered a thought-provoking speech titled “Improving Literacy Outcomes: A Time to Act.” Her presentation included reasons for pessimism regarding literacy education, reasons for hope, a discussion of the scope of the challenge, and recommendations for action.

In addition to hearing Snow, attendees at Reading Research 2008 also had an opportunity to participate in smaller breakout sessions organized around four strands: reading instruction, assessment, adolescent literacy, and teacher quality.

Peter Afflerbach of the University of Maryland, one of the speakers in the assessment strand, spoke about “Assessment and Accountability: From Teachable Moments to Tests.” He spoke of the need for balance between testing and instruction, noting that in a thoughtful assessment system, formative and summative assessment work together. He also noted that “a test score tells us little or nothing of the means by which it was achieved.”

Julie Coiro of the University of Connecticut, one of the speakers in the adolescent strand, spoke about what she called a beginning research effort to understand and measure the differences between online and offline reading skills in young readers. Her research used “new literacies” approaches to studying individual students who were asked to perform a set of tasks using Internet websites to compile and evaluate information. Because some students who don’t read at a high level offline were able navigators online, she thinks there is something beyond offline reading skills that contributes to online reading comprehension and is working to pinpoint exactly what those skills or strategies may be.

Another highlight of Reading Research 2008 was the awards luncheon, at which several research awards were presented or announced. See the Wednesday issue of Convention Highlights for information about IRA award winners.

Also at the luncheon, Karen Douglas, director of the Status of Reading Instruction Institute, gave an overview of the Institute’s activities. The Institute has contracted with the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan to conduct the Description of Reading Instruction Study. The study will gather rigorous, objective information about how teachers teach reading in elementary classrooms.

Watch for Snow’s presentation (as well as others submitted during the IRA Annual Convention) to be posted in the convention area of the IRA website soon after the conference ends. Some presentation materials that were submitted prior to the convention are already posted.