International Reading Association
2003
In 1999, the International Reading Association convened the National Commission on Excellence in Elementary Teacher Preparation to conduct a national survey of programs that prepare elementary reading teachers, and to study the effectiveness of the graduates of such programs. A blue-ribbon panel narrowed the field to eight institutions that had "outstanding credentials" for preparing reading teachers. The study finds, rather unsurprisingly, that teachers who spend time in quality reading education programs are more successful in teaching kids to read than those who don't. What is interesting is the study's examination of the effectiveness of beginning teachers in the field, whereas most studies on this subject focus solely on the quality of teaching and learning within the university/college setting. The report, though, begs the question: What precisely does an "outstanding" teacher preparation program look like and why don't we have more of them? Visit http://www.reading.org/pdf/commission_summary.pdf to view the executive summary; to order the full report, go to http://www.reading.org/.
