ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The RAND Reading Study Group and its members are most grateful to the many
groups and individuals who played a role in shaping this report. First, the RRSG
is indebted to the independent peer reviewers who critiqued our initial draft:
Douglas Buehl, reading specialist, Madison East High School, Madison
Metropolitan School District, Wisconsin; Susan Goldman, Vanderbilt University; Carol D. Lee, Northwestern University; Peter Mosenthal, Syracuse University; Charles A. Perfetti, University of Pittsburgh; Sheila A. Potter, coordinator, English Language Arts Program, Michigan Department of Education;
Michael Pressley, Notre Dame University; and Robert Rueda, University of
Southern California. The RRSG is also indebted to several individuals who wrote
background papers: P. David Pearson, University of California, Berkeley; Diana
Nicole Hamm, Michigan State University; and Jay Lemke, City University of
New York.
Next, the RRSG thanks the various professional associations and the persons
within them who, by individual or group response, provided valuable commentary on the RRSG’s initial draft that was posted on the Achievement for All website and presented at numerous conference gatherings: the American
Educational Research Association; the Center for the Improvement of Early
Reading Achievement, University of Michigan; the International Reading
Association; the National Association for Bilingual Education; the National
Council for Teachers of English; the National Reading Conference; the Society
for the Scientific Study of Reading; the Society for Text and Discourse; the
University of Michigan School of Education graduate students and faculty; and
the Washington Area Reading Group. Individual practitioners and scholars, too
numerous to list by name, independently sent us constructive comments and
suggestions on the draft report; we thank each and every one of them for taking
the time to thoughtfully review the RRSG’s initial draft.
The study group wishes to acknowledge several other persons who were connected with the development of this document and who provided guidance
throughout the process: Thomas Glennan, Jr., and P. Michael Timpane, senior
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advisors for education policy at RAND, and Fredric Mosher, RAND consultant.
This product benefited from the attention of Gina Schuyler, project coordinator, and Rita Foy Moss, U.S. Department of Education, who assisted in staffing
the RRSG. The RRSG also recognizes JoAn Chun and Jennifer Cromley, who
contributed their efforts in the latter stage of product development. Finally, the
study group extends its special appreciation to Anne P. Sweet, senior researcher
on reading literacy, U.S. Department of Education, who served as lead staff on
this project while in residence at RAND. She provided invaluable management
and support to the study group’s work as it proceeded from start to finish.
Catherine Snow, Chair
RAND Reading Study Group