Marcia Invernizzi
Edmund H. Henderson Professor of EducationCurry Professor Champions Child LiteracyChildren in Virginia are finding it easier to read at an earlier age, thanks to a special diagnostic and screening tool developed at the University of Virginia. Created nearly a decade ago, the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS) test enables teachers to gauge students’ reading skills and tailor instruction to meet their individual needs. PALS started as a part of Virginia’s Early Intervention Reading Initiative, legislation passed in 1997 to prevent reading problems in kindergarten. Supported jointly by the University’s Curry School of Education and the Virginia Department of Education, the successful program has evolved to include children in kindergarten, grades 1–3, and preschoolers. Though it is voluntary, PALS now boasts a 100 percent participation rate among Virginia’s public schools. PALS is designed to be “simple” and “instructionally transparent,” said Marcia Invernizzi, who developed the test with colleagues and is the Edmund H. Henderson Professor of Education and director of the McGuffey Reading Center at U.Va. Forty-three states, including Virginia, and six countries now use the PALS tool. In addition to helping reading instructors tailor programs for individual students, the data produced by PALS enable teachers, principals, and administrators to assess the results of classrooms, schools, and districts. The data also allow Ms. Invernizzi and her colleagues to chart statewide literacy trends by student, class, school, district, and region. Keeping the data online has greatly improved schools’ ability to help transient students. As students and families move from one school to the next, or one district to another, teachers have typically struggled to measure students’ reading abilities and provide them with appropriate programs. PALS enables teachers to access a child’s assessment history online and accommodate any special instructional needs. Last year, the PALS office transferred nearly eighty thousand student records electronically within twenty-four hours of the initial request, allowing teachers to begin appropriate instruction immediately. Edmund H. Henderson Professorship in EducationThe Edmund H. Henderson Professorship in Education was established in 2000 with funding from Achsah Henderson in honor of her late husband. A former public school teacher and college professor, Mr. Henderson (College ’50) returned to his alma mater in 1969 to direct the Curry School’s McGuffey Reading Center, a post he held until his death in 1989. To help Curry attract and retain scholars in reading education, Mrs. Henderson created the Edmund H. Henderson Professorship in Education with matching support from the Saunders Professors Fund and gifts from her husband’s former students. ChairholdersMarcia A. Invernizzi 2004–present Web Links |