This article reports on the results of 11 interviews conducted as a follow-up to a survey that examined the perceptions of university faculty regarding the importance of graduate programs preparing reading specialists for leadership roles. The results of the interviews indicate that programs require a leadership course that has reading specialist…

This article outlines five critical issues for teacher educators and literacy specialists in New York State. Intended to raise issues and share recent policy decisions, the article provides background and conversations about current policy. Readers are encouraged to make decisions about how to participate in the current conversations across the…

Research has identified certain comprehension strategies that seem to work in an optimal manner to increase the reading comprehension of K-12 students. However, little evidence exists about whether teachers use identified, research-based strategies when teaching. In view of the critical nature of literacy achievement for diverse populations and…

Describes an instrument, the College Reading Specialist Competency Checklist, that assesses the competencies of reading and study skills specialists. (HOD)

Presents a list of task competencies that identifies the critical areas in which a reading specialist performs and provides a basis for judgments affecting the revision and initiation of graduate reading programs. (RB)

The College of Education at Texas Woman's University developed an undergraduate teacher preparation program with a specialization in reading for both elementary and secondary education majors. Graduate programs leading to both master's and doctor's degrees in reading are also available. A reading laboratory has been designed to accommodate…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the reading professional in the post high school institution offering technical curricula. The status and role of the reading professional were researched by ascertaining his opinions and those of his dean of instruction. One hundred two-year colleges were randomly selected from "Ferguson's Guide to Two…

Determines (1) the nature of clinical experiences for reading specialists provided at various educational institutions; (2) perceptions of graduates regarding the value of their experiences; (3) practices used in their current teaching roles; and (4) the degree of congruence between what they experienced and their current practices. Finds that the…

Increasing numbers of students now attending college lack the reading and study skills necessary for mastery of content area material. One approach to solving this problem is using learning assistance personnel as consultants to content area instructors. Some specific reading and study techniques that learning assistance instructors can help…

A special interest group of the International Reading Association publishes a scholarly journal, "The Reading Professor: The Journal of Professors of Reading Teacher Educators." In Volume 22, No. 1, Fall 1999, the following articles are featured: "Young Children Draw Their Images of Literacy" (Roberta A. McKay and Maureen E.…

Discusses the interactional model of learning and the andragogical model of the learner, then examines the implications of these two perspectives in detail with special emphasis on how they affect the college reading specialist's encounters with students who are concerned with independent learning strategies. (FL)

At present there is controversy among members of the International Reading Association (IRA) regarding the role that IRA should assume in addressing the questions of accrediting graduate programs in reading education and certifying reading professionals. In this document, four reading educators present their views on these issues. The first…

A series of research studies on the consistency of reading specialists' diagnoses of students with reading problems have indicated that clinical agreement has been astonishingly low. To investigate which factors seem to lead to consistency in clinical diagnosis, a study was conducted based on a theory of clinical problem solving called inquiry…

This paper explores the professional preparation of remedial reading specialists for the community college. Various sections of the paper discuss the following topics: (1) the need for more reading specialists at the community college level, (2) the past training of college reading specialists, (3) undergraduate training of college reading…

This handbook includes articles by several authors on topics of interest to reading consultants. Specifically, the 13 chapters deal with the areas of reading readiness, word recognition, phonics, vocabulary development, reading comprehension, content area reading, rate of reading, interests and motivation, remedial corrective reading, evaluation,…