Jill Fitzgerald, professor of literacy, will be honored at the International Reading Association annual conference in May by being inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame.
The Reading Hall of Fame, established in 1973, includes nationally and internationally prominent researchers recognized as having made extraordinary contributions to theory and research in the study of literacy. Criteria for membership in the Reading Hall of Fame include being widely known and respected by peers in the profession; a track record of significant research; and, service to the field of reading.
Fitzgerald, who has been a leading researcher in the field of literacy for more than 25 years, has served the School of Education as senior associate dean and chief academic officer, director of graduate studies for the School, and as interim dean.
Fitzgerald, who joined the SOE faculty in 1979, has had a prolific scholarly career in emergent, early school and bilingual literacy. In 1998, she received the American Educational Research Association’s Outstanding Review of Research Award and, with colleague George Noblit, she received the 2000 International Reading Association’s Dina Feitelson Award for Research.
Fitzgerald has published widely in journals such as Reading Research Quarterly, Research in the Teaching of English, JRB: A Journal of Literacy, Journal of Educational Psychology, Educational Psychologist, Discourse Processes, Written Communication, American Educational Research Journal, and Review of Educational Research.
She has also contributed service to various federal groups as a review panelist and presenter for bilingual and English-language learners’ literacy issues, including the Office of Education’s Office of Bilingual and Language Minorities Affairs and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Fitzgerald’s current research projects address young Latino students’ English-reading growth, especially in relation to oral-language level, children’s reading growth associated with federally funded large-scale reading instructional implementations, and review of the impact of bilingual education programs on student achievement.