About
the National Reading Panel (NRP)
NRP
Meetings Archive |
Panel Meetings
January 21, 1999
Washington, DC
Meeting Minutes
Introduction
The National Reading Panel met on January
21, 1999 in the Mirage Room of the Holiday Inn-Georgetown
in Washington, DC.
Those Panel members attending were:
Dr. Gloria Correro, Dr. Linnea Ehri, Ms. Norma Garza,
Dr. Michael Kamil, Dr. Donald Langenberg, Dr. S.J. Samuels,
Dr. Sally Shaywitz, Dr. Dale Willows, Dr. Joanna Williams,
and Dr. Joanne Yatvin.
Panel Executive Director F. William
Dommel Jr. briefed the Panel on recent congressional
activities involving the Reading Excellence Act and
the Act’s effects on the funding of education initiatives
in the next fiscal year.
Mr. Dommel then introduced two individuals
that are helping the Panel with its work in finalizing
its research methodology – Drs. Harris Cooper and
David Francis. Both Drs. Cooper and Francis participated
in both the meeting of the scientist members of the
Panel on January 20 and in the January 21 full Panel
meeting.
Report on Web
Site, Progress Report, Focus Groups, and Strategic Alliance
Group
The Panel then began discussion of
a series of communications tools that could be used
to help the Panel in its efforts.
Panel members first looked at the recently
developed National Reading Panel web site (http://www.nationalreadingpanel.org).
The site will be used to provide background information
on the Panel, post executive summaries of Panel meetings,
making them available to the public, and solicit participation
from key stakeholders. The site also includes Panel
member biographies, a calendar of Panel meetings and
other events, and links to other sites involved in reading.
Panel members agreed that the site should not have a
restricted access section for Panel members, wanting
to keep all information public and available to all
interested parties.
The Panel then discussed hosting a
series of focus groups across the country to meet with
key stakeholder groups. It was agreed that such an activity
would be useful to Panel efforts. It was also agreed
that the Panel should move forward on assembling a strategic
alliance group, an informal outreach effort to involve
key stakeholder groups in the Panel’s efforts over
the next year. As these efforts proceed, additional
information on both of these activities will be provided
to the Panel members for their comment and approval.
Discussion of Scientists’ Recommendations
Regarding Methodology
Members of the Panel then discussed
the methodology recommendations developed by the scientist
members of the NRP.
At a meeting held the day before, Dr.
Kamil presented the methodology document created by
the scientists, offering it as the core guidelines for
all Panel subgroups and for the research syntheses that
each subgroup will compile.
These guidelines included: conceptualization
of research questions and problem identification procedures;
search procedures; sources of publications; orders of
evidence and breadth of research methods considered;
coding of data, data analysis, and expected outcomes.
Recess
The Panel recessed from 3:15 p.m. to
3:35 p.m.
Public Comment Period
The Panel then opened the floor for
public comment. Ms. Marsha Berger, representing the
American Federation of Teachers, spoke. Berger offered
some suggestions of additional organizations –
including the Learning First Alliance – that could
be considered as part of the Panel’s strategic
alliance group.
Presentation of NRP Threaded Discussion
The Panel then heard from Heather Biggio
of the National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development (NICHD), who provided Panel members with
information on the threaded discussion group that was
created for Panel members. The discussion group was
offered as a web-based alternative to the listserve
currently used by the Panel.
Continued Discussion of Methodology
Panel members then resumed their discussion
on methodology, focusing on specific sections of the
coding sheet. The Panel voted to approve the scientists
document as amended by the full Panel. Panel staff said
the final version of the document would be circulated
to the Panel once all changes had been made.
Conclusion
Dr. Langenberg informed the Panel that
NICHD Director Duane Alexander would testify before
a congressional appropriations committee in mid-February,
and would discuss Panel activities to date. The methodology
document, and ideally an interim progress report of
the Panel, would be presented as part of that hearing.
Dr. Langenberg reminded the Panel that
the next full Panel meeting would be April 7 in Washington.
The Panel adjourned at 6:06 p.m.
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