The Science and Practice of Reading

From June 30 through July 2, 1999, the Haskins Laboratories Reading Research Group offered a workshop, in collaboration with the University of Connecticut's Psychology Department, titled, "The Science and Practice of Reading". The attendees were principals, reading specialists, and learning disability specialists from elementary schools in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. It was held at the University of Connecticut Storrs campus.

The aim of the workshop was to familiarize people who are decision-makers in the schools with current research on reading so they can make informed decisions for teacher training, selection of reading programs and selection of remediation strategies. Anne Fowler and Brian Byrne led the workshop with assistance from many others. Marilyn Adams talked about why it is important for decision-makers to understand the cognitive theory and research relevent to reading. Michael Turvey demonstrated the research methods that are used to study the mental mechanisms involved in printed word recognition. Brian Byrne spoke about the pre-reading child's cognition. Others spoke on what teachers need to know about language to teach reading effectively (Alice Faber), how the brain reads (Ken Pugh), characteristics of good and poor readers (Donald Shankweiler), and the relation between speech and reading (Alvin Liberman). Leonard Katz and Claudia Carello organized the workshop.

The three day event produced high praise from the attendees, who left with an increased sophistication about the process of learning to read.