Deborah Wells Rowe , associate professor of early childhood education at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College , was presented the Dina Feitelson Research Award from the International Reading Association (IRA).
The $500 award recognizes an outstanding empirical study on literacy acquisition. Rowe’s study appeared in the journal Research in the Teaching of English . The paper was titled “The Social Construction of Intentionality: Two-Year-Olds’ and Adults’ Participation at a Preschool Writing Center.”
Rowe’s research focused on the ways preschool children begin to learn to read and write in classroom settings. She worked collaboratively with preschool teachers to develop and study curricula that incorporated writing, book experiences and dramatic play as important features of early childhood literacy instruction.
A principal investigator of a three-year Early Reading First project funded by the U.S. Department of Education, [pullright]Rowe and her colleagues work with teachers and children in 13 public schools to create preschool centers of excellence for literacy instruction.[/pullright] She also is involved in the Write Start! Project, a three-year study in two urban childcare centers of writing in children ages 2 to 5.
Rowe, who joined the Peabody faculty in 1986, serves as a co-editor of The Yearbook of the National Reading Conference and The Journal of Early Childhood Literac y. She is the author of Preschoolers as Authors: Literacy Learning in the Social World of the Classroom (Hampton Press, 1994) and has contributed chapters to numerous publications.
The International Reading Association is a community of reading professionals united by the mission to promote higher levels of literacy, reading and communication by advancing the quality of instruction and research worldwide. A network of 1,200 councils and more than 50 national affiliates forms the working foundation for the association.
Peabody College recently was named the No. 1 graduate school of education in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for the second consecutive year. For more information about the college, visit http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu .
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