WELCOME
The University of Minnesota Center for Reading Research conducts applied research on reading and research on teaching approaches that facilitate reading instruction.
The focus is on conducting research that supports teachers, particularly those who teach students of poverty and students from diverse backgrounds. The Center addresses problems and issues in reading that require creative and powerful research efforts. Learn more about our mission.
Recent News & Announcements
Online Course: Literacy Instruction in the Elementary Grades
MCRR will offer this 4-credit online course for Fall 2012. Registration will begin this summer, so please check back for more details. If you have any questions, please contact MCRR at 612-624-4561 or mcrr@umn.edu.
This course has been approved by the Minnesota Department of Education as a Reading Methods Program for applicants who completed out-of-state licensure programs. If your initial Minnesota Teaching Licence has a renewal condition stating that you must complete one or more "reading courses," this course would qualify toward that requirement. For more information, visit MDE: Licensing.
MCRR Summer Literacy Workshop - Registration Now Open!
Using Reading Research to Create Communities of Learners
Wednesday, August 8, 2012 |
8:30 AM – 3:00 PM
Continuing Education & Conference Center, U of M St. Paul Campus
1890 Buford Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108
The workshop will feature a keynote address by Dr. Kristen McMaster from the University of Minnesota, Department of Educational Psychology, along with breakout sessions led by other U of M faculty and staff from the College of Education and Human Development. The day will conclude with a Q&A panel discussion with the presenters.
Motivating Diverse Learners to Read
Posted Thursday, April 5, 2012 | CEHD Vision 2020 Blog
Lori Helman, Co-Director, and Yolanda Majors, Associate Director for Adolescent Literacy & Learning
Learning to read well can be both incredibly challenging and rewarding for any student, but can be especially daunting for diverse learners. These are students with language backgrounds other than English as well as racial and ethnic backgrounds other than middle class and white. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, approximately 10.8 million children aged 5-17 in the US spoke a language other than English in their home in 2008.
Continue reading for tips for teachers to help students succeed and suggestions for parents.
A Targeted Approach to Interventions for Struggling Readers
Posted Thursday, March 29, 2012 | CEHD Vision 2020 Blog
Matt Burns and Lori Helman, Co-Directors
Reading may be the single most important skill for children to learn, as it’s a portal to the world of knowledge. Despite major efforts to help improve literacy levels, the percentage of struggling readers has barely decreased over the last decade. One of the ways many schools seek to improve literacy growth is by adding reading intervention programs to existing literacy curricula. The main purpose of reading intervention is to improve students’ reading by helping increase their decoding, fluency, comprehension or vocabulary. In our work and research within Minnesota Center for Reading Research (MCRR), we’ve taken a close look at how to best use reading interventions for positive student outcomes.
What have we found? The more accurately teachers and reading specialists can define the student’s challenge, the more effective the intervention.
Boosting Literacy with 5-Factor Approach
Posted Thursday, March 22, 2012 | CEHD Vision 2020 Blog
Matt Burns and Lori Helman, Co-Directors
Early literacy skills are important to children’s overall success in learning to read, success in school and even their success in life. Literacy is more than the ability to read and write—it’s about being able to engage with text and interpret and translate the text into ideas. By 2nd grade, students with strong vocabularies may know 8,000 more words than their peers with weaker vocabularies. Research also shows that if students don’t read proficiently by 3rd grade, odds are they will not catch up to their peers; unfortunately this is the case for a significant portion of students. Right now, nearly 25% of 3rd graders in Minnesota fail to reach basic levels of literacy (that’s roughly 15,000 children each year). Closing the literacy gap is a priority across the nation.
Continue reading to learn more about the PRESS project and the 5-factor approach to reading instruction.
Donald Bear presents at MCRR School Recognition Event | Feb 29, 2012
The Minnesota Center for Reading Research (MCRR) recognized over 130 Minnesota K-12 schools for significant improvement in reading, based on Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).
The schools in attendance on Wednesday were treated to a presentation by Dr. Donald Bear, director of the E. L. Cord Foundation Center for Learning and Literacy and professor in the College of Education, University of Nevada-Reno. Donald is an author and co-author of numerous articles, book chapters, and books, including Words Their Way, Words Their Way with English Learners, Vocabulary Their Way and Words Their Way with Struggling Readers, 4 – 12.
Their Way is Your Way: Development, Success and Courage
Instruction may be most effective when we teach “their way,” when we followstudents’ leads. It takes courage to teach developmentally, but doing so leads to success, three words that we study at the beginning of this talk: development, success and courage. As an illustration of teaching “their way is your way,” we examine how students’ word knowledge guides word study instruction. Specifically, we will visit five stages of development to see that what students are experimenting with, what they are “using but confusing” is a window to their development, their ways of learning.
- Narrated Presentation (view-only) [PowerPoint Show]
- PowerPoint Presentation [PDF] and Handout [PDF]
Star Tribune: Early literacy gets new focus, funds
Minnesota's emphasis on early literacy supported by CEHD researchers
Early literacy education is receiving the highest priority in Minnesota in an effort to narrow the achievement gap between white and nonwhite students, according to a recent Star Tribune story, "Early literacy gets new focus, funds." Broad support for this initiative, including a $45 million Race to the Top grant from the U.S. Department of Education, is based on significant research and service contributions by CEHD researchers and students, including many associated with the Minnesota Center for Reading Research (MCRR). The MCRR's PRESS partnership with Minneapolis Public Schools, the Minnesota Reading Corps, and Target Corporation is one example featured in the article.
Across the college a commitment to early learning and early literacy is evident by contributions to now well established research on the importance of early brain development and its connection to the critical pre-third-grade years of reading skill development. From ongoing work in the top-rated Institute of Child Development and Center for Early Education and Development to curriculum development and school partnerships created by faculty and staff in the Departments of Educational Psychology and Curriculum and Instruction, CEHD is at the forefront of statewide efforts to improve early education.
One contributor, literacy education professor Deborah Dillon, was recently honored with the 2012 Minnesota Academy of Reading Award for leadership. Dillon notes in the article that literacy education "must go beyond words and definitions to teach students complex ideas" and that it is "absolutely critical we don't let up after third grade."
See more on CEHD contributions to early learning and early literacy.
Posted by Steve Baker to the CEHD News Blog on February 13, 2012.
Star Tribune: Apps take e-books beyond mere reading
Star Tribune, January 3, 2012:
Lori Helman, associate professor of literacy education at the University of Minnesota and co-director of the Minnesota Center for Reading Research, said human relations are crucial to child development.
"We need a lot of opportunities for face-to-face interaction so children can learn what it means to be human," she said. "A developing person, whether they're 2 or 7, needs to be able to ask questions and check out their understanding. And no app can be responsive to all the questions and thoughts and wonderings that a young person needs. You need people." That said, Helman added, apps and e-books can give kids more access to books and put libraries at their fingertips. "If we're using these things as little babysitters, I think kids will get tired of them," she said. "But if we use them to enhance our interaction, imagine the great conversation that could spark."
Reading Today: Professional Development for Literacy Leaders of All Kinds
Reading Today features an article by Julianne Scullen, 2010-11 Minnesota Reading Association President, that highlights the Leadership in Reading Network (LiRN) initiative: "The Minnesota Reading Association (MRA) has partnered with the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and the Minnesota Center for Reading Research (MCRR) to provide professional development for the state’s literacy leaders in an initiative called Leadership in Reading Network (LiRN)."
Learn more about this partnership in the Reading Today article [PDF] from the October/November 2011 issue.
PRESS in the News: Corporate help spurs education in Minnesota
KARE-11: "Every student in Ann Matthes' kindergarten class at Anne Sullivan Communication Center has a book in hand…The Minnesota Reading Corps and the University of Minnesota Center for Reading Research are partners in the program, providing the expertise in the classroom, the framework for the program, as well as tools to evaluate how well the program is working."
Watch the full story on KARE-11.
Interview on Early Literacy with Dr. Lori Helman
Visit Mom Enough to listen to an interview with Dr. Lori Helman, MCRR Co-Director, discussing early literacy instruction and what parents can do to encourage and support their child's reading at home.
Continue reading recent news.