Literacy Expert Pearson is Fall 2009 Riall Lecturer October 13

SALISBURY, MD---Literacy instruction has changed in public schools during the past decade an a half, according to Dr. P. David Pearson, former president of the National Reading Conference.

Pearson speaks on the ways research, educational policy and politics have interacted to create the everyday literacy practices seen in today’s schools as this semester’s E. Pauline Riall Lecturer at Salisbury University. He also argues for changes to those practices to ensure students are able to make the most of their education. His talk is 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 13, in Holloway Hall Auditorium.

“Dr. Pearson is a leader in teaching literacy,” said Dr. Gwen Beegle, Riall Lecture Series coordinator. “His work, through university teaching and scholarship, continues to be nationally influential in understanding the transfer of learning and teaching literacy within scientific inquiry.”

A member of the National Academy of Education, Pearson is a former dean of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s college of education, where he also co-directed the Center for the Study of Reading. Before joining the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, he was the John A. Hanna Distinguished Professor of Education at Michigan State University.

He has served as president of the National Reading Conference and on the boards of directors for the International Reading Association, the National Reading Conference and the Association of American Colleges of Teacher Education. His honors include the William S. Gray Citation of Merit from the International Reading Association, the Oscar Causey Award for Contributions to Reading Research from the National Reading Conference and the Alan Purves Award from the National Council of Teachers of English.

Among his books and articles are the Handbook of Reading Research, now in its third volume; Learning to Read: Lessons for Effective Schools and Accomplished Teachers (with Barbara Taylor); and with Linda Darling-Hammond and other prominent educators, Powerful Learning: What We Know About Teaching for Understanding.

The E. Pauline Riall Lecture Series is named in honor of its founder, the long-time principal and teacher at SU’s Campus School. The series’ purpose is to bring to the University and community outstanding national lecturers in the field of education.

Sponsored by the Samuel W. and Marilyn C. Seidel School of Education and Professional Studies, admission is free and the public is invited. For more information call 410-543-6393 or visit the SU Web site at www.salisbury.edu.