Dr. Pearson serves as Dean of the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley, and as a faculty member in its Language and Literacy program. His current research, as a principal investigator for the Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement (CIERA), focuses on issues of reading instruction and reading assessment policies and practices at all levels-local, state, and national. Prior to coming to Berkeley in 2001, he served as the John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor of Education in the College of Education at Michigan State and as Co-Director of CIERA, with faculty appointments in Teacher Education and Educational Psychology. Even earlier, he was Dean of the College of Education, Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Reading, and Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Illinois. His initial professorial appointment was at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
He has been active in professional organizations, serving the International Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers of English in many capacities, both the National Reading Conference and The National Conference of Research in English as President, and the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education as a member of the Board. In 1989, the National Reading Conference presented him with the Oscar Causey Award for outstanding contributions to reading research. In 1990, he was awarded the William S. Gray Citation of Merit by the International Reading Association for his contributions to theory, research, and practice. He was elected to the National Academy of Education in 2003. He has written and co-edited several books about research and practice, most notable being the Handbook of Reading Research, now in its third volume, and most recently, an edited volume with Barbara Taylor on Effective Schools and Accomplished Teachers. He has served on the boards of many educational research journals e.g., Reading Research Quarterly, Journal of Literacy Research, Review of Educational Research, Journal of Educational Psychology, Cognition and Instruction, Research in Teaching English, and Visible Language. On three occasions, he has served two terms as editor of a research publication-Reading Research Quarterly, NRC Yearbook, and Review of Research in Education. Professor Pearson received his B.A. in history from the University of California at Berkeley, after which he taught elementary school in California for several years, and went on to complete his Ph.D. in reading education at the University of Minnesota.
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