National Reading Panel
Encyclopedia
The National Reading Panel (NRP) was a United States government body. Formed in 1997 at the request of Congress, it was a national panel with the stated aim of assessing the effectiveness of different approaches used to teach children to read.
The panel was created by Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
(NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health
, in consultation with the Secretary of Education, and included prominent experts in the fields of reading education
, psychology, and higher education. The panel was chaired by Donald Langenberg
(University of Maryland), and included the following members: Gloria Correro (Mississippi State U.), Linnea Ehri (City University of New York), Gwenette Ferguson (middle school teacher,Houston, TX), Norma Garza (parent, Brownsville, TX), Michael L. Kamil (Stanford U.), Cora Bagley Marrett (U. Massachusetts-Amherst), S. J. Samuels (U. of Minnesota), Timothy Shahahan (U. of Illinois at Chicago), Sally Shaywitz (Yale U.), Thomas Trabasso (U. of Chicago), Joanna Williams (Columbia U.), Dale Willows (U. Of Toronto), Joanne Yatvin (school district superintendent, Boring, OR).
In April 2000, the panel issued its report, "Teaching Children to Read," and completed its work. The report summarized research in eight areas relating to literacy instruction: phonemic awareness instruction, phonics instruction, fluency instruction, vocabulary instruction, text comprehension instruction, independent reading, computer assisted instruction, and teacher professional development. The final report was endorsed by all of the panel members except one. Joanne Yatvin wrote a minority report criticizing the work of the NRP because it (a) did not include teachers of early reading on the panel or as reviewers of the report and (b) only focused on a subset of important reading skills. Timothy Shanahan, another panel member, later responded that Dr. Yatvin had received permission to investigate areas of reading instruction that the panel could not address within the limited time provided for their work. Shanahan noted that she had not pursued additional areas of interest despite the willingness of the panel to allow her to do so.
In 2001, President George W. Bush announced that the report would be the basis of federal literacy policy and was used prominently to craft Reading First
, a $5 billion federal reading initiative that was part of the No Child Left Behind legislation.
In particular, the panel calls attention to the paucity of research on the use of the Internet for reading instruction. One potential explanation for this void is the concern that at this time, teachers are not well-prepared to teach with the Internet and therefore its use is limited in terms of the breadth and depth with which it is used for instructional purposes (Wallace, 2004). According to Wallace (2004), the use of the Internet presents challenges due to the unbounded space, extreme fluidity and unpredictable nature of the Internet. Additionally, the Internet disrupts the pattern of textbook authority, presents teachers with difficulty in monitoring students' learning pathways and lacks the sequence in content acquisition that is afforded by more traditional curricula.
The panel was created by Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development , created by Congress in 1962, supports and conducts research on topics related to the health of children, adults, families, and populations...
(NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...
, in consultation with the Secretary of Education, and included prominent experts in the fields of reading education
Reading education
Reading education is the process by which individuals are taught to derive meaning from text.Government-funded scientific research on reading and reading instruction began in the U.S. in the 1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s, researchers began publishing findings based on converging evidence from...
, psychology, and higher education. The panel was chaired by Donald Langenberg
Donald N. Langenberg
Donald Newton Langenberg is a physicist and college professor. He formerly served as chancellor of the University System of Maryland and the University of Illinois, Chicago...
(University of Maryland), and included the following members: Gloria Correro (Mississippi State U.), Linnea Ehri (City University of New York), Gwenette Ferguson (middle school teacher,Houston, TX), Norma Garza (parent, Brownsville, TX), Michael L. Kamil (Stanford U.), Cora Bagley Marrett (U. Massachusetts-Amherst), S. J. Samuels (U. of Minnesota), Timothy Shahahan (U. of Illinois at Chicago), Sally Shaywitz (Yale U.), Thomas Trabasso (U. of Chicago), Joanna Williams (Columbia U.), Dale Willows (U. Of Toronto), Joanne Yatvin (school district superintendent, Boring, OR).
In April 2000, the panel issued its report, "Teaching Children to Read," and completed its work. The report summarized research in eight areas relating to literacy instruction: phonemic awareness instruction, phonics instruction, fluency instruction, vocabulary instruction, text comprehension instruction, independent reading, computer assisted instruction, and teacher professional development. The final report was endorsed by all of the panel members except one. Joanne Yatvin wrote a minority report criticizing the work of the NRP because it (a) did not include teachers of early reading on the panel or as reviewers of the report and (b) only focused on a subset of important reading skills. Timothy Shanahan, another panel member, later responded that Dr. Yatvin had received permission to investigate areas of reading instruction that the panel could not address within the limited time provided for their work. Shanahan noted that she had not pursued additional areas of interest despite the willingness of the panel to allow her to do so.
In 2001, President George W. Bush announced that the report would be the basis of federal literacy policy and was used prominently to craft Reading First
Reading First
Reading First is a federal education program in the United States mandated under the No Child Left Behind Act and administered by the federal Department of Education...
, a $5 billion federal reading initiative that was part of the No Child Left Behind legislation.
Computer Technology and Reading Instruction
In Chapter 6 of the NRP report, the panel concludes that due to the limited number of experimental studies available, the instructional recommendations for reading and computers are unclear. The panel asserts that computer technology can be used for reading instruction, however, the authors state there is a "great deal of additional exploration" to be done in order to understand how computer use should be operationalized in the reading classroom.In particular, the panel calls attention to the paucity of research on the use of the Internet for reading instruction. One potential explanation for this void is the concern that at this time, teachers are not well-prepared to teach with the Internet and therefore its use is limited in terms of the breadth and depth with which it is used for instructional purposes (Wallace, 2004). According to Wallace (2004), the use of the Internet presents challenges due to the unbounded space, extreme fluidity and unpredictable nature of the Internet. Additionally, the Internet disrupts the pattern of textbook authority, presents teachers with difficulty in monitoring students' learning pathways and lacks the sequence in content acquisition that is afforded by more traditional curricula.