It said the panel identified more than 100,000 research studies completed since 1966, reviewed them using rigorous criteria, and conducted regional hearings to allow interested persons to comment. The report, according to the panelists, is not the last word on reading instruction, and there may be useful information for educators contained in studies that did not meet the panel's criteria for review. But the release highlighted a number of definite findings. Other panel findings highlighted in the April 13 press release addressed teacher education, technology, and guided oral reading. Teachers must understand how children learn to read, why some children have difficulty learning to read, and how to identify and implement the most effective instructional approaches.
Rigorous research is needed to understand the potential of computers in reading instruction.
While asking children to read silently is an accepted practice, the research demonstrated that it was not as effective as guided oral reading in helping children become fluent readers. Dissent within One panel member, IRA member Joanne Yatvin of the Oregon Trail School District in Sandy, Oregon, published a minority view that was included with the materials released with the panel's report. Yatvin said the panel was unable to cover the whole field of education in its review, and should have concentrated on the topics of highest interest and greatest controversy or assessed the validity of various commercial programs being touted as reading cure-alls. She also questioned the ability of the panel as a whole, given the predominance of university professors, to assess the usefulness of the findings to classroom teachers.