National Reading Panel (NRP) - About the NRP - April 24, 1998 Panel Meeting

The National Reading Panel met in Bethesda, MD on Friday, April 24, 1998 in Conference Room 6 in Building 31C at the National Institutes of Health.

The meeting was called to order by Dr. Duane Alexander, Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health at 9:07 a.m.

Those Panelists attending were Donald Langenberg, Gloria Correro, Linnea Ehri, Gwenette Ferguson, Norma Garza, Robert Glaser, Michael Kamil, S.J. Samuels, Timothy Shanahan, Sally Shaywitz, Joanna Williams, Dale Willows, and Joanne Yatvin.

Dr. Alexander offered welcoming remarks, detailed the charge of the Panel as developed by the U.S. Congress, and answered questions about the charge from Panel members. He then introduced the Panel's executive director, F. William Dommel, Jr.

Dommel detailed the federal government guidelines that are applicable to the members of the National Reading Panel as they carry out their charge—particularly regarding their time on task, roles and responsibilities operating at the behest of the U.S. government. He also characterized for Panel members the differences (and potential for attendant conflicts that can develop when serving on a panel such as this) between speaking from personal, professional perspectives that each individual holds—and their roles as Panel members speaking from the consensus perspective forged through the Panel’s process of thoughtful and thorough review and consideration of research findings and public commentary.

Dr. Alexander then introduced Dr. Donald Langenberg, chancellor of the University System of Maryland and chair of the National Reading Panel.

Dr. Langenberg welcomed the Panel and laid out his vision for the tasks before the NRP, including the importance of communicating Panel findings in ways that will have direct and immediate impact in schools, homes and communities throughout the nation.

Dr. Langenberg then invited Dr. Marilyn Wigdor of the National Academy of Sciences' National Research Council Committee on the Prevention of Reading Difficulties in Young Children to address the Panel.

Dr. Wigdor described the NRC Committee report and detailed its key findings. The NRC presentation was completed by Dr. Susan Burns, also of the NRC Committee elaborated on the processes committee members engaged in to develop the report and its recommendations. Dr. Burns also told the Panel about the individuals who served on the Committee and their respective backgrounds in reading.

Both Wigdor and Burns described the NRC’s plans to subsequently issue another shorter or more popularized version of the report intended for the general public, with an emphasis on things parents can do in working with their children.

The Panel recessed from 10:58 a.m. to 11:23 a.m.

Dr. Langenberg then introduced Vinita Chhabra, a staff member of the National Reading Panel. Chhabra told the Panel members about the information available and the different types of resources, literature data bases, and search engines available.

The Panel then asked Drs. Wigdor and Burns about the research engines and techniques used by the National Research Council. Panel members focused on the methodologies used by the NRC committee in conducting its review and assessment of existing research.

The National Reading Panel concluded the morning session for a lunch break from 11:56 a.m. to 1:07 p.m.

Dr. Langenberg opened the afternoon session of the meeting with a discussion of the approaches available to meet the charge of Panel characterized in the morning by Dr. Alexander. Dr. Langenberg first addressed the issue of a systematic search of the literature.

Panel members discussed how they would approach the literature, and how such a search could complement the work already concluded by the NAS/NRC in compiling its recommendations. After much discussion, the Panel formed five subcommittees, the first three of which build upon the primary principles elaborated upon by the NAS/NRC in its study: Decoding; Comprehension; Fluency; Second Language Learners; and Technology.

Panel members turned their attention to the different techniques that could be used for review and evaluation of research. Dr. Alexander described two medical models for reviewing and evaluating research findings, noting they may be relevant to consideration and analysis of literature in any area - the Best Evidence Synthesis and the Cochrane Collaboration.

Dr. Alexander then introduced Dr. Ellen Schiller from the U.S. Department of Education to detail the most effective research methodologies used in education and other social sciences.

Following the presentations on research models, Dr. Langenberg led a discussion on subcommittee assignments.

The decoding subgroup was comprised of Ehri, Shanahan, Willows, and Yatvin. The comprehension subgroup was comprised of Ehri, Kamil, and Williams. The fluency subgroup was comprised of Glaser, Samuels, and Shaywitz. The second language subgroup was comprised of Kamil and Willows. The technology subgroup was comprised of Garza, Kamil, and Langenberg.

The Panel then discussed its plans for a series of regional meetings. They planned for four regional meetings, one in the west, one in the northeast, one in the south and one in the central portion of the country. The Panel discussed the value of hearing from individual members of a particular local community, as well as moving the meetings beyond the traditional Washington, D.C. area. Panel members agreed on the importance of listening to and learning from the many voices and perspectives of parents, educators, community members and civic or business leaders, in addition to conducting a careful review of research findings.

Dr. Langenberg then asked Shaywitz and Shanahan to report back to the Panel on the area of general levels of reliability in the research. The two agreed to work together in developing criteria that could be uniformly used by all subcommittees in their review and evaluation of research findings.

The Panel discussed the dates for regional meetings and for the next meeting in Bethesda. July 24, 1998 was selected as the date for the next full Panel meeting, although Shanahan and Yatvin will not be able to attend on that date. The Panel discussed the possibility of connecting them to the meeting via conference call.