News
GSE to host conference on improving literacy instruction in schools
Archived article from Sep 20, 2004
By Patricia Lamiell
The Graduate School of Education (GSE) has long been part of the national and statewide discussion about how best to teach children to read. That debate has gained new prominence amid current concerns about the “achievement gap,” federal No Child Left Behind legislation and questions about the fairness and accuracy of standardized tests.
GSE will host a daylong Governor’s Literacy Forum Oct. 8 intended to share the latest research and methods for improving literacy instruction. The forum, co-sponsored by the office of Gov. James E. McGreevey, the New Jersey Department of Education and Rutgers’ GSE, will allow educators to share information with policy-makers, business leaders and nonprofit funders. It will take place from 8:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Rutgers Student Center, 126 College Ave., New Brunswick.
The conference lineup includes three GSE professors: Lesley M. Morrow, professor II of education, who made preschool literacy preparedness a priority as the immediate past president of the International Reading Association; Dorothy S. Strickland, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Professor of Education, who has developed strategies for helping struggling readers and writers in the middle school years; and Michael W. Smith, who has studied how adolescents read and talk about texts both in and out of school.
McGreevey is scheduled to make opening remarks. Education Commissioner William Librera will introduce the keynote speaker, John Guthrie, professor of human development and director of the Maryland Literacy Research Center at the University of Maryland. Guthrie will discuss the importance of using lively material and literary texts to engage children in reading.
Experts from the public policy, testing, business and philanthropic communities will conduct workshops. These experts include Jacqueline Jones from the Educational Testing Service; Ellen Frede, Fred Carrigg and Penelope Lattimer of the New Jersey Department of Education; Kathy Roller of the International Reading Association; and participants from Verizon, Prudential Financial Inc. and the Carnegie Corp. of New York.
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