Marilyn Jager Adams
Encyclopedia
Dr. Marilyn Jager Adams was born on December 14, 1948. She holds a Ph.D.
from Brown University
in cognitive psychology
and developmental psychology
and is internationally regarded for her research and applied work in the areas of cognition
and education
.
Recipient of the American Educational Research Association's Sylvia Scribner
Award for outstanding research, Dr. Adams's contributions include the landmark book, Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning About Print (1990).
Dr. Adams chaired the Planning Committee and was a member of the Study Committee for the National Research Council's report, Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children (1998). She has been on the Planning or Steering Committee for National Assessment of Educational Progress
(NAEP) Reading Assessment since 1992. She was on the Advisory Panel for the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) and has been given responsibility with developing a vocabulary module for the 2013 NAAL. She is working on this task in collaboration with Dr. Kathryn Spoehr, of Brown University
.
Dr. Adams was Senior Author of the Kindergarten and Grade 1 levels of Open Court Publishing Company
's 1995 reading and writing program, "Collections for Young Scholars"; the research-documented efficacy of this program (Foorman et al., 1998) was arguably a major impetus for the focus on better classroom reading programs within the Reading First
component of the No Child Left Behind Act
.
Other instructional resources of which Dr. Adams was principal author are "Phonemic Awareness in Young Children" (1997) for emergent and remedial reading students, CTB/McGraw-Hill's "Fox in a Box," an award-winning, standards-based literacy assessment kit, and "Odyssey: A Curriculum for Thinking," a research-validated program on thinking skills that was originally developed for the Republic of Venezuela
.
Dr. Adams has served as Literacy Advisor for "Sesame Street
" and has been Senior Advisor for Instruction for PBS's "Between the Lions
" since its inception. She is currently a Visiting Professor
in the Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences Department at Brown University
and Chief Scientist at Soliloquy Learning, a software company which she co-founded in 2000 with the mission of harnessing automated speech recognition
in service of affordable, effective one-on-one support to students in learning to read and reading to learn. Soliloquy Learning's software is called the Soliloquy Reading Assistant.
Dr. Adams was cited in the 2001 Politics of Education Yearbook as one of the five most influential people in the national reading policy arena (McDaniel et al., 2001).
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
from Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
in cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology is a subdiscipline of psychology exploring internal mental processes.It is the study of how people perceive, remember, think, speak, and solve problems.Cognitive psychology differs from previous psychological approaches in two key ways....
and developmental psychology
Developmental psychology
Developmental psychology, also known as human development, is the scientific study of systematic psychological changes, emotional changes, and perception changes that occur in human beings over the course of their life span. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to...
and is internationally regarded for her research and applied work in the areas of cognition
Cognition
In science, cognition refers to mental processes. These processes include attention, remembering, producing and understanding language, solving problems, and making decisions. Cognition is studied in various disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science...
and education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
.
Recipient of the American Educational Research Association's Sylvia Scribner
Sylvia Scribner
Sylvia Scribner was an American psychologist and educational researcher who focused on the role of culture in literacy and learning. Her parents were Gussie and Harry Scribner, and Sylvia also had a sister, Shirley.-Biographical Outline:...
Award for outstanding research, Dr. Adams's contributions include the landmark book, Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning About Print (1990).
Dr. Adams chaired the Planning Committee and was a member of the Study Committee for the National Research Council's report, Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children (1998). She has been on the Planning or Steering Committee for National Assessment of Educational Progress
National Assessment of Educational Progress
The National Assessment of Educational Progress is the largest continuing and nationally representative assessment of what our nation’s students know and can do in core subjects. NAEP is a congressionally mandated project administered by the National Center for Education Statistics , within the ...
(NAEP) Reading Assessment since 1992. She was on the Advisory Panel for the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) and has been given responsibility with developing a vocabulary module for the 2013 NAAL. She is working on this task in collaboration with Dr. Kathryn Spoehr, of Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
.
Dr. Adams was Senior Author of the Kindergarten and Grade 1 levels of Open Court Publishing Company
Open Court Publishing Company
The Open Court Publishing Company is a publisher with offices in Chicago and La Salle, Illinois. It is part of the Carus Publishing Company of Peru, Illinois.-History:...
's 1995 reading and writing program, "Collections for Young Scholars"; the research-documented efficacy of this program (Foorman et al., 1998) was arguably a major impetus for the focus on better classroom reading programs within the Reading First
Reading First
Reading First is a federal education program in the United States mandated under the No Child Left Behind Act and administered by the federal Department of Education...
component of the No Child Left Behind Act
No Child Left Behind Act
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is a United States Act of Congress concerning the education of children in public schools.NCLB was originally proposed by the administration of George W. Bush immediately after he took office...
.
Other instructional resources of which Dr. Adams was principal author are "Phonemic Awareness in Young Children" (1997) for emergent and remedial reading students, CTB/McGraw-Hill's "Fox in a Box," an award-winning, standards-based literacy assessment kit, and "Odyssey: A Curriculum for Thinking," a research-validated program on thinking skills that was originally developed for the Republic of Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
.
Dr. Adams has served as Literacy Advisor for "Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
" and has been Senior Advisor for Instruction for PBS's "Between the Lions
Between the Lions
Between the Lions is a PBS Kids' puppet show designed to promote reading. The show is a co-production between WGBH in Boston and Sirius Thinking, Ltd., in New York City, in association with Mississippi Public Broadcasting, in Mississippi. The show has won seven Daytime Emmy awards between 2001 and...
" since its inception. She is currently a Visiting Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
in the Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences Department at Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
and Chief Scientist at Soliloquy Learning, a software company which she co-founded in 2000 with the mission of harnessing automated speech recognition
Speech recognition
Speech recognition converts spoken words to text. The term "voice recognition" is sometimes used to refer to recognition systems that must be trained to a particular speaker—as is the case for most desktop recognition software...
in service of affordable, effective one-on-one support to students in learning to read and reading to learn. Soliloquy Learning's software is called the Soliloquy Reading Assistant.
Dr. Adams was cited in the 2001 Politics of Education Yearbook as one of the five most influential people in the national reading policy arena (McDaniel et al., 2001).
External links
- Interview with Marilyn Jager Adams on thinking and learning about beginning to read (2004)