Through the years, research on reading has made enormous contributions to helping us understand how students learn to read and how teachers can best instruct them. Research continues to add to our fundamental knowledge of reading in significant ways, thus adding more pieces to the puzzle -- for example, finding answers to how students learn content in other school subjects through reading, and what strategies teachers can use to help their students do this more effectively. Reading Research into the Year 2000 describes the dynamic process that the Department of Education engages in to plan and execute a reading research agenda. It was written to inform a wide ranging public -- those who will benefit directly or indirectly, from reading research findings, including those who use research applications, as well as those who conduct the research. Moreover, it was written to make public the process of establishing a national R&D Center. Few people outside the Department of Education are aware of the procedures that are undertaken. The editors believe that if more people are "in the know," they will be more likely to participate in the entire process -- from generating research ideas to submitting applications -- and that this greater participation is essential if we are to garner divergent thinking about how to solve critical education research issues. They have made a significant step toward breaking down barriers to full participation, and paved the way for greater involvement of "non-traditional" players in competing for a national R&D Center award.

Through the years, research on reading has made enormous contributions to helping us understand how students learn to read and how teachers can best instruct them. Research continues to add to our fundamental knowledge of reading in significant ways, thus adding more pieces to the puzzle -- for example, finding answers to how students learn content in other school subjects through reading, and what strategies teachers can use to help their students do this more effectively. Reading Research into the Year 2000 describes the dynamic process that the Department of Education engages in to plan and execute a reading research agenda. It was written to inform a wide ranging public -- those who will benefit directly or indirectly, from reading research findings, including those who use research applications, as well as those who conduct the research. Moreover, it was written to make public the process of establishing a national R&D Center. Few people outside the Department of Education are aware of the procedures that are undertaken. The editors believe that if more people are "in the know," they will be more likely to participate in the entire process -- from generating research ideas to submitting applications -- and that this greater participation is essential if we are to garner divergent thinking about how to solve critical education research issues. They have made a significant step toward breaking down barriers to full participation, and paved the way for greater involvement of "non-traditional" players in competing for a national R&D Center award.

In Volume III, as in Volumes I and II, the classic topics of reading are included--from vocabulary and comprehension to reading instruction in the classroom--and, in addition, each contributor was asked to include a brief history that chronicles the legacies within each of the volume's many topics. However, on the whole, Volume III is not about tradition. Rather, it explores the verges of reading research between the time Volume II was published in 1991 and the research conducted after this date. The editors identified two broad themes as representing the myriad of verges that have emerged since Volumes I and II were published: (1) broadening the definition of reading, and (2) broadening the reading research program. The particulars of these new themes and topics are addressed.

This book presents state-of-the-science research on the components of successful literacy learning and how to target them in contemporary classrooms. The volume builds on and extends the work of Steven Stahl, whose pioneering contributions encompassed the key areas of phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and assessment. Ten classic papers by Stahl are accompanied by 16 new chapters by other leading experts, who highlight Stahl's theoretical, methodological, and instructional innovations; describe how knowledge about each domain continues to evolve; and discuss implications for helping all children become better readers.