Catherine Compton-Lilly shares what she hopes to gain from the experience and advice for fellow educators.

Catherine Compton-Lilly was inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame. This elite group of educators and scholars shapes reading education and helps to make reading accessible for learners of all ages. Compton-Lilly shares her research, career experiences and hopes for her position.

 

Q: When did you discover a passion for teaching reading and conducting research on reading practices?

“I taught first grade in what was then called an “inner city” school for 18 years. I worked with many students from diverse backgrounds, particularly African American and Puerto Rican children. I became concerned with how these students were treated in school and what resources and opportunities they could access. I became interested in creating equitable access for these students and conducted my own longitudinal research from early grades through high school. I am not only interested in reading, but how students become readers over time.”

 

Q: What types of reading research questions interest you?

“I am interested in understanding the various backgrounds children come from and how they relate to learning to read. I want to be responsive to all children. If a student’s home language is not English, we must provide students with experiences that honor them and their families. There may be language differences brought by families, so I am interested in providing an education that makes sure all students get what they need whether it is phonics, storytelling, decoding words or comprehension. There is not one way to teach reading. the best teaching depends on the experiences children bring to the classrooms, their neurological makeup, their personalities, cultures and their ability levels. So many things need to be individualized for children to be successful.”

 

Q: What is a word that characterizes your work?

“Empower. Educators need to be able to make decisions about how to teach the children in their classrooms. I am a big proponent of learning about our students as readers, writers and people. We do this through informal and formal assessments. We can listen to students read, talk to them about what they are reading and tailoring our practice to what we see. When we do this, we also empower students.”

 

Q: You were recently inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame? Tell us more about that recognition and what it means to you?

“The Reading Hall of Fame was established in 1978 with 12 members to honor pioneers in reading scholarship. I am joining a community of the top reading researchers in the world. Many of these individuals are people I have admired my entire career. They represent a variety of perspectives in the field, and I am excited to add my own perspectives to this group. I have recently reviewed a century of reading scholarship in America, so I have been reading about these heroes of the field. It is a huge honor to add my name to this group, and I will continue explore how far we have come and what gaps continue to exist in our knowledge.”

 

Q: Where has your interest in reading taken you?

“As I said, I have completed a longitudinal study following students for ten years. My most recent work is following ten immigrant families for ten years. My final student in the cohort is heading to college next year, so my work will be complete. It has been so exciting to see how students become readers over extended periods of time, and it’s led to some fascinating ideas around temporality and how people become readers. More recently,  I was also able to do work in Taiwan with a Fulbright grant. Having the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues around the world has been a wonderful experience.”

 

Q: What would be your advice for reading educators?

“Keep your focus on the students. They are all going to approach reading and writing in their own ways, and it is essential that we meet them where they are. We need to be flexible and have expertise on various aspects of reading. One of the roles a university plays is working with educators to makes sure they have support and resources that will allow them to serve all students.”

 

Q: What do you hope to accomplish as a member of the Reading Hall of Fame?

“I want to learn from the people who have been in the community for a while. They are the top experts in reading and literacy scholarship in the world, so it is a wonderful opportunity to join them and learn from their work to support the next generation. I hope to serve as a mentor for future members and continue to develop leadership in the field of reading.”