Learning to Teach Reading: Setting the Research Agenda

Learning to teach reading is an important and timely topic in the reading-focused reform environment of education at the start of the millennium. Teacher education in general and reading teacher education, specifically, are under attack. Teacher educators are accused of not preparing teachers who are capable of teaching reading to all children. To address these challenges and to set in motion future reform, renowned literacy scholars have come together to present Learning to Teach Reading: Setting the Research Agenda.

In this volume, editor Cathy M. Roller has compiled chapters based on presentations at the International Reading Association's Reading Research 2000 Conference. Notable scholars address issues ranging from the status of the knowledge base to social reconstruction and teacher education, from beginning teachers' instructional practices to practicing teachers' reactions to teaching standards. In the book's concluding chapter, Roller establishes an agenda for future research and development at all teaching levels.

Roller states that she is "convinced that improving America's schools, and particularly the reading instruction in those schools, requires an ambitious research agenda for teacher education." The themes of such a research agenda are woven throughout this volume, which reading researchers and teacher educators will find invaluable. This important collection will not only propel new research on teacher preparation for reading instruction, but it also will help you to find a proactive voice in advancing standards and practices of excellence in literacy education.

Cathy M. Roller is the International Reading Association's Director of Research and Policy.