Reading Comprehension Research and Testing in the U.S.

by Arlette Ingram Willis

This book challenges traditional, sanctioned, and official histories of reading comprehension by examining how ideological and cultural hegemony work to reproduce dominant ideologies through education in general and reading comprehension research and testing specifically. Willis analyzes the ideological and cultural foundations that underpin concepts, theories, research, tests, and interpretations, and connects these to the broader social and political contexts within U.S. history in which reading comprehension research and testing have evolved. The reconstruction of a history of reading comprehension research and testing in this way demystifies past and current assumptions about the interconnections among researchers, reading comprehension research, and standardized reading comprehension tests. A promising vision of the future of reading comprehension research and testing emerges–one that is more complex, multidimensional, inclusive, and socially just.

Reading Comprehension Research and Testing in the U.S. aims to revolutionize how reading comprehension is conceived, theorized, tested, and interpreted for all children. This is a critically relevant volume for educational researchers, teacher educators, school administrators, teachers, policy makers, and all those concerned with school literacy and educational equity.

406 pages, Hardcover

First published October 24, 2006

Reviews

[Terynce · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely learned from this book. Claims were adjudicated thoroughly, more thorough than I personally required, but well argued and organized. An update of the past ten years - as a short chapter - would be cool.

[Davelowusa · Rating 5 out of 5]

So often the history/ies of an academic discipline or field is/are presented as linear, inevitable, apolitical, and unproblematic. Willis refuses this stance, exploring and complicating the history/ies of reading research through the rise and hegemonic reproduction of scientism, positivism, and social Darwinism. She offers various counterhistories to illuminate the racism and classism hiding in plain sight within the evaluation of reading comprehension in the US.

[Andrew Ravin · Rating 3 out of 5]

some of the information was pretty helpful - the history and sequence of some events. and i liked that the author questioned some dominant ideas about reading history. at the same time, the biography stuff is a little bit nutso, and it moves against her ideas of diverse and multiple contexts. she's reproducing the idea of "great men", at the same time that she argues against that idea.