This analysis of the history, prospects, and problems of qualitative approaches to gauging text complexity appeared, along with several related articles, in a special issue, edited by Freddy and me, in 2014. … Read the rest
Putting text complexity in context: Refocusing on comprehension of complex text. Valencia, S. W., Wixson, K. K., & Pearson, P. D. (2014)
The Elementary School Journal, 115(2), 270-289.
This is the third in a series of 3 papers that Sheila and Karen and I have written to make a case for what we call Text-Task-Scenarios–a framework that suggests that constructs like reader ability, text complexity, and reading assessment are better viewed as situated (they result from unique and particular combinations of relevant variables) than constitutive (they are not inherent characteristics of entities like people, texts, or tasks).… Read the rest
Vocabulary assessment: What we know and what we need to learn. Pearson, P. D., Hiebert, E. H., & Kamil, M. L. (2007)
Michael, Freddy, and I have long shared an interest in vocabulary–its learning, assessment, and pedagogy. We undertook this effort to characterize three faces of vocabulary assessment–its conceptual base, its theoretical assumptions, and its format and operationalization. … Read the rest
Theory and practice in statewide reading assessment: Closing the gap. Valencia, S.W., Pearson, P.D. Peters, C.W., & Wixson, K. (1989)
The four of us (Sheila, Karen, Charlie, and I) were key movers in the novel assessments developed for Michigan (Karen and Charlie) and Illinois (Sheila and I) in the late 1980s. This piece, written primarily for policy makers, outlines the rationale behind these efforts.… Read the rest
Assessment and Diversity. Garcia, G. E. & Pearson, P. D. (1994)
Linda Darling Hammond asked Joey and me to write this piece for one of her volumes of RRE. We did not know what a treat we were in for when we acquired Ed Gordon as our consulting editor. How much we learned!… Read the rest
Coaching for coherence: How instructional coaches lead change in the evaluation era. Woulfin, S. L., & Rigby, J. G. (2017)
The CIERA school change framework: An evidence‐based approach to professional development and school reading improvement. Taylor, B. M., Pearson, P. D., Peterson, D. S., Rodriguez, M. C. (2005)
This is the last of a series of 3 empirical papers on the work that a team of us, led by Barbara, wrote based on our six year line of work trying to unmask the elements of successful reform in early literacy.… Read the rest
Tierney, R. J. & Pearson, P. D. Learning to learn from text. (1981)
Rob and I wrote this piece in 1981 for the first edition of Dishner, Readence, & Bean’s Reading in the Content Area: Improving Classroom Instruction. In the second edition in 1992, it was reprinted with a “revisionist essay” telling what we would change about it 11 years later.… Read the rest
A dialogical turn in research on learning and teaching to comprehend. Wilkinson, I. A. G. & Son, E. H. (2011)
An important and insightful historically-based review of comprehension learning and pedagogy. An important critique of the strategy instruction movement as it unfolded in the 1980s – 2000s.
Increasing students’ awareness of sources of information for answering questions. Raphael, T. E. & Pearson, P. D. (1985)
This is one of several studies that Taffy published on Question-Answer Relations. In addition detailing the internal workings of QAR pedagogy, the study also illustrates a classic gradual release of responsibility pedagogical model. … Read the rest