College of Education hosts leading literacy scholars at upcoming conference

Purdue University’s College of Education will bring together leading literacy scholars at an upcoming virtual conference, Building Consensus: Aligning Reading Research with Practice, on Tuesday, April 20.

The conference will allow scholars in the field of literacy to engage in dialogue with the goal of crafting a statement about reading research and the development of reading instruction that can be presented to audiences outside academia, including legislators and parents.

Incorporating a full slate of discussions involving leading researchers in the field of literacy education, language development, and special education, the one-day conference will facilitate discussion in the areas of commonality in relation to reading development and instruction. Researchers from Stanford University, the University of California – Berkeley, University of Maryland, William & Mary, Michigan State University, and other institutions will join Purdue College of Education faculty and researchers.

The agenda is built around roundtable discussions, and Purdue College of Education doctoral students will be involved in the implementation of the breakout groups.

“The Purdue College of Education is proud to be hosting a virtual forum on reading research and instruction, inviting many of the best professionals in the country to engage in important dialogue on reading curriculum for PreK – grade 3 and how we can bring critical pieces together to help those who need more focused supports,” said Dr. Nancy Marchand-Martella, the Suzi and Dale Gallagher Dean of Purdue’s College of Education. “At no other time in recent memory has reading been on the minds of so many; we look forward to the conversation and hope to showcase commonalities across a range of fields engaged in making our society a more literate one.”

Conference Chair Dr. Melanie R. Kuhn, the Jean Adamson Stanley Faculty Chair in Literacy at Purdue, explained that College of Education faculty plan to continue the conversations from the conference at future professional literacy meetings.  

“We hope that this conference will lead to dialogue that continues across fields and highlights areas of agreement among participants,” said Dr. Kuhn. “We plan to continue this discussion, potentially through a virtual speaker series, online interactions between attendees, and at future education conferences.”

Dr. Kuhn also said that proceedings from Building Consensus: Aligning Reading Research with Practice will be submitted to leading education journals so that larger audiences can be impacted by the conference outcomes.

Learn more about Purdue University College of Education: https://education.purdue.edu//

Source: Dr. Melanie R. Kuhn, melaniek@purdue.edu