IRA President Victoria Risko and P. David Pearson, chair of the Literacy Research Panel, have added three new members to the IRA Literacy Research Panel. The new members are Amy Correa, a Chicago teacher; Linda M. Phillips, University of Alberta, Canada; and Peter Freebody, University of Sydney, Australia. Brief background information on each of these individuals is set out below.

The Panel has been working diligently since its formation last fall. One of its first major work products, namely its vision statement, will be distributed and discussed on Monday April 30, 2012 at 10:30 a.m. during the panel’s presentation at IRA’s Chicago Convention.

Amy Correa

Amy Correa is a teacher in the Chicago Public Schools and a doctoral student at National-Louis University. As a Millennium Scholar, she assisted Senior Consultant Donna Ogle on the collaboration between the National College of Education of National-Louis University and the Chicago Public Schools on its federal Striving Readers Grant to improve the literacy instruction of middle school readers. 

Amy, Donna, and Camille Blachowicz also codirected the Reading Corporate Cohort Model. In partnership with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Office of Literacy and supported by CPS and The Chicago Community Trust, this program seeks to connect literacy leaders, NLU-NCE master's candidates, and participating school teachers in a literacy-endorsement training program that will build a scalable model for sustained support of graduate study for CPS teachers. 

Linda M. Phillips

Linda M. Phillips is Professor and Director of the Canadian Centre for Research on Literacy in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta. Her current research projects include: 

• the development of a Test of Early Language and Literacy (TELL) for children ages 3 to 8 years with corresponding intervention modules; 
• the study of children’s reasoning when reading in conventional and dynamic assessment contexts; the exploration of scientific literacy (reading when the content is science);
• the study of emergent and family literacy; and 
• the use of fMRI studies in understanding reading development.

Linda has been an invited research scholar at the Center for the Study of Reading at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and King's College London. 

Linda’s awards include:

• the Outstanding Reading Teacher Award, International Reading Association 1978;
• Undergraduate Teaching Award, Memorial University of Newfoundland 1989;
• Graduate Teaching Award, University of Alberta 2012; 
• President’s Award for Outstanding Research 1991 (Memorial University of Newfoundland) for reading research that provided the missing link in order to describe more precisely the constructive rather than reproductive process of reading; 
• The JRST Award (The National Association for Research in Science Teaching) for best article, “Interpreting pragmatic meaning when reading popular reports of science”1994;
• McCalla Research Professorship for outstanding scholarship and research in reading 2002; 
• Killam Annual Professorship for outstanding research and contributions to the community 2004;  
• Beauchamp Laureate for excellence in research 2007; and 
• Canadian Leader in Literacy Research, Canadian Graduate Students’ Association 2009.

Most recently, Linda has been appointed Centennial Professor at the University of Alberta for an outstanding record of scholarly research, teaching, and service.

Linda is a founding member and first President of the Language Arts Researchers of Canada / Chercheurs Canadiens en Arts Langagiers. She has served as the national Literacy Leader for the centre of excellence, Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network, as well as on several editorial boards including Reading Research Quarterly. She was selected to be the senior editor for the international refereed Handbook of Language and Literacy Development: A Roadmap from 0 to 60 Months. Linda has published books, chapters and articles nationally and internationally on language and literacy. 

Linda’s disciplinary knowledge is in cognition and reading. She has focussed her research and professional development on the difficulties experienced by readers from preschoolers to adults. She has a strong research methodology background and the combination of these skills results in high demand for her expertise. 

Given the growing emphasis on literacy development as the foundation to participation in a global and technological world, there is an increasing call to collaborate in order to help to explain how literacy affects many aspects of life such as educational, health, financial, language, and poverty concerns. Linda is honoured to serve on the Literacy Research Panel of the International Reading Association and is delighted to bring her expertise and knowledge of Canadian perspectives to the Panel.  

Peter Freebody

Peter Freebody is a Professorial Research Fellow in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at The University of Sydney and a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. Peter has a Bachelor’s degree with First Class Honors in Education and a teaching qualification from the University of Sydney, and a Doctorate from the Center for the Study of Reading at the University of Illinois. He has taught high school English and French. In Australia he has worked at the University of New England, Griffith University, and the University of Queensland. He was also a co-founder of the Centre for Research in Pedagogy and Practice at the National Institute of Education, Singapore. 

Peter’s research interests are in literacy education, educational disadvantage, classroom interaction and research methodology. He has contributed numerous invited entries in international handbooks and encyclopedias on literacy and research methodology. He has also published in many journals including Reading Research Quarterly, Reading Psychology, Harvard Educational Review, Language in Society, Language and Communication, Curriculum Inquiry, The Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, International Journal of Inclusive Education, and Language and Education.  He has also authored or edited 10 books with publishing houses such as Blackwell’s at Oxford, Routledge and Sage at London, Hampden at New Jersey, and Springer Scientific at Dordrecht. 

Peter has written more than a dozen research reports for government on topics such as an evaluation of adult literacy programs and assessment, classroom interaction and disadvantage in early literacy learning, and online curriculum and digital learning objects. His most recent project for government is a study of teachers in disadvantaged settings researching school-community relations.

Peter has served on several Australian state and national advisory groups in the area of literacy education and curriculum design. He was lead author of the framework paper for the Australian English Curriculum. He is currently a member of the New South Wales State Ministerial Advisory Group for Literacy and Numeracy and the Australian Federal Government’s Digital Education Advisory Group. He is the Australian Federal Government’s nominee on the National Literacy and Numeracy Expert Group. 

Literacy Research Panel Formation Announcement

IRA Annual Convention Program Grid with Details about Speakers and Sessions

About the Annual Convention

About the International Reading Assocation

The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) established the Researcher-Practitioner Partnerships in Education Research grant program (CFDA 84.305H) with the goal of seeking funding partnerships composed of research institutions and State or local education agencies. For the FY 2013 competition, these partnerships will identify an education issue with important implications for improving student achievement that is of high priority for the education agency, carry out initial data analyses regarding the education issue, and develop a plan for further research on the issue culminating in an application to one of the Institute’s research grant programs. The letter of intent is due July 19, 2012, with the application due September 20, 2012. For more information on application guidelines, see the http://ies.ed.gov/funding/ncer_rfas/partnerships.asp.

IES will host a series of funding opportunities webinars April through August, 2012. These webinars will focus on a wide range of topics for applicants to the FY 2013 grant programs, including the application process, grant writing, and overviews of specific funding opportunities. Full descriptions of the webinars are available and registration is now open on their website. 

The U.S. Department of Education released the 2012 notice inviting applications for new “Scale-up” and “Validation” grants available through the Investing in Innovation (i3) fund.

“This next round of i3 projects will build on the fund’s growing portfolio of promising education programs that help close achievement gaps, personalize learning, and accelerate student achievement,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

School districts and nonprofit organizations in partnership with school districts or schools are eligible to compete for nearly $150 million. Grant awards will be made to those with the strongest proposals for expanding promising or effective educational practices to improve learning for high-need students.

Grants of up to $25 million, termed “Scale-up” grants, will be awarded to projects with strong evidence of improving student achievement, and up to $15 million in “Validation” grants will be available to those with moderate evidence.

The i3 fund also provides smaller grants—up to $3 million—for “Development” projects that support promising practices to improve student learning that merit further exploration and research. A pre-application for this category was announced last month.

The 2012 Scale-up and Validation competitions will fund projects across five priority areas: supporting effective teachers and principals; promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education; supporting the implementation of high academic content standards and high-quality assessments; turning around low-performing schools; and improving graduation rates in rural schools.

In addition, competitive preference will be given to applications that focus on up to two of these priorities: improving early learning outcomes, increasing college access and success, addressing the unique needs of students with disabilities and those with limited English proficiency, improving productivity, or using technology.

Applications for the Scale-up and Validation grants are due May 29, 2012. Pre-applications for i3 Development grants are due April 9, 2012. Peer reviewers will determine the highest rated applicants in all three categories.

The Department plans to announce highest rated applicants in the fall. Each potential grantee will then be required to secure a private sector match of 15% for Development grants, 10% for Validation grants, and 5% for Scale-up grants in order to receive an i3 award. Awards will be announced no later than December 31, 2012.

To access the Scale-up application package, go to http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-03-27/pdf/2012-7362.pdf. 

For the Validation application package, go to http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-03-27/pdf/2012-7365.pdf. 

To learn more about the Investing in Innovation Fund, visit http://www2.ed.gov/programs/innovation/index.html.

The Center on Education Policy (CEP) recently released two reports on the implementation of the federal School Improvement Grants program.

The Opportunities and Obstacles: Implementing Stimulus-Funded School Improvement Grants in Maryland, Michigan, and Idaho report examines the implementation of the School Improvement Grants (SIG) program by drawing on research conducted in three states, seven school districts, and 11 schools (including schools that were eligible for but did not receive a SIG award). The study looks at how the federal program requirements are working within the state and local context, the progress made during the first year of the three-year grant implementation, and the different approaches being used to improve student achievement in schools that received SIG funds compared to schools that were eligible for but did not receive grants.

The State Implementation and Perceptions of Title School Improvement Grants under the Recovery Act: One Year Later report is based on a winter 2011-12 survey of state directors of the federal Title I program. The report examines the first year of state implementation of the SIG program. It focuses on state processes for renewing the SIG awards made for school year 2010-11, state assistance to schools, and general perceptions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) SIG program requirements. Forty-five states and the District of Columbia participated in the survey.

For more information about CEP, visit www.cep-dc.org. 

Research on the Role of Disciplinary Literacy Instruction: Delivering and Expanding on the Common Core State Standards will be the topic of Elizabeth Birr Moje’s 2012 Research Address presentation at the IRA Annual Convention in Chicago. 

Based on her research work in disciplinary literacy teaching, Moje will help us to think about how current research provide a framework for disciplinary teaching including critical components of the Common Core State Standards.

Moje will review research on disciplinary literacy teaching to help teachers at all grade levels to deliver the promises of the Common Core State Standards. The review will draw on existing studies that exemplify how teachers can think about disciplinary literacy instruction. Moje will also share studies to illustrate key practices for teaching children, youth, and novice teachers how to navigate the demands of reading and writing challenging subject-area texts. In closing, she will lay out the challenges to integrating such instruction into elementary and secondary classrooms and offer suggestions for navigating those challenges. 

Elizabeth Birr Moje is Associate Dean for Research and an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in the School of Education at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Moje also serves as a Faculty Associate in the University’s Institute for Social Research, Latino/a Studies, and the Joint Program in English & Education. She is a member of IRA’s Literacy Research Panel. Her research interests focus on the intersection between the literacies and texts youth are asked to learn in the disciplines and the literacies and texts they experience outside of school. In addition, Moje studies how youth make cultures and enact identities from their home and community literacies, and from ethnic cultures, popular cultures, and school cultures. These research interests stem from the start of her career when she taught history, biology, and drama at high schools in Colorado and Michigan. Her current research focuses on communities and schools in Detroit, Michigan. She also engages in literacy professional development with teachers in Detroit and around the world. 

Moje has authored or edited four books and numerous book chapters, as well as articles in journals such as the Harvard Educational Review, Review of Research in Education, Reading Research Quarterly, Teachers College Record, Phi Delta Kappan, Journal of Literacy Research, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Research in the Teaching of English, Urban Review, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Science Education, and Science.

Her research projects have been or are currently funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the International Reading Association, the National Academy of Education, the National Institutes of Health/Office of Vocational and Adult Education/Institute of Education Sciences, the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and the William T. Grant Foundation.

The Research Address and Awards will be held on Monday, April 30, from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Visit www.iraconvention.org for more information.