Society for the Scientific Study of Reading
Minutes of the Business Meeting
Asheville, North Carolina, 10 July 2008
> Download the business meeting minutes (PDF)
This conference (Hugh Catts)
Hugh reported that here had been 274 submissions, including 19 symposia, 117 spoken papers, and 138 posters. There 375 individuals registered for the conference, including 110 students (180 were going to attend the conference dinner). Because of limited space, conference registration had to be restricted.
A question was asked about publishers’ exhibits. Hugh responded that this was something that could be reconsidered.
Next conferences
2009: Boston (Hugh Catts)
Hugh announced that Nonie Lesaux will be the local organiser. Hugh suggested we could have 120 spoken papers and 180 posters in Boston, and as many as 425 registrants. If numbers go beyond this, it will be necessary to restrict registration. It was agreed that first preference will be given to first authors of papers, followed by members of the Society. After a period of several weeks if there are spaces remaining, further registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.
2010, 2011 (Don Compton)
Don announced that the Board had selected Berlin as its choice for 2010, and that he had identified a local organiser. The membership will be surveyed with regard to possible sites for 2011.
Membership and Nominations (Pieter Reitsma)
Pieter announced that the Membership Committee had reviewed and approved 7 applications for membership.
There will be an election of a new Board Member this Fall. Dorit Aram and Cammie McBride-Chang have agreed to stand for election.
Treasurer’s report (Maggie Snowling for Stephen Petrill)
Maggie announced that a Treasurer’s report was not yet available, but that a synopsis would be circulated soon.
Journal: Scientific Studies of Reading (Charles Hulme)
Charles reported that submissions had increased, providing enough material for 6 issues per year and making the appointment of an Associate Editor essential. The Publications Committee has approved, so Charles will proceed to nominate an Associate Editor to the Publications Committee.
Charles also reported that the journal’s impact factor had increased to 2.7, that the publication lag was about 12 months, and that the new web-based submission process was in place and working. He had reminded the Board that his term as Editor ends in March 2009.
International Coordinator’s report (Maggie Snowling for Marketa Caravolas)
Maggie summarized Marketa’s report. Marketa had surveyed a number of international members, who had supported the following suggestions: (a) that future meetings be held near airline hub cities, (b) that the journal encourage and facilitate the submission of papers from non-English speaking countries, (c) that the Board set up a larger number of travel bursaries rather than have a smaller number of larger awards, and (d) that the society put on a pre- or post-conference training session for early career researchers in future years.
Other business
Susan Brady made a motion from the floor:
Part 1.
That the Board of SSSR form a subcommittee to issue a statement about Reading First and/or the science behind Reading First.
She suggested that the statement cover a number of topics:
The credibility of the science behind Reading First and the value of disseminating research-based methods of reading instruction, as in Reading First;
The merit of collecting outcome data of such programs for the purpose of improving application of research for practice.
The limitations of and misunderstandings about the IES Impact study.
Recommendations for continued funding of Reading First and use of current results about Reading First to improve implementation and inform changes in data collection process.
Part 2.
That the subcommittee recruit SSSR members with the relevant expertise, such as David Francis, to help draft the content.
Part 3.
That the subcommittee distribute the statement to the appropriate U.S. legislative offices and to other organizations, possibly seeking a joint statement from multiple organizations such as the American Psychological Association.
Comments were made about the dangers of becoming involved in political issues, that our input should be solely with respect to the science involved. Other questions were raised about whether the subcommittee should include non-Americans or not. Concerns were also expressed regarding the Society’s procedures for voting on such an important issue that had not been present on the Agenda of the meeting.
Taking account of the above concerns, Maggie proposed that the Board should convene outside of this meeting to reflect on how best to address these issues and assured members that no action would be taken without circulating any proposed letter to the membership
There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned.