September 13, 1999
To: SSSR Members
From: Ralph E. Reynolds, President
Re: News Update
You may notice that this newsletter and the call for proposals are arriving later this year than last year. This is because we are holding our annual conference in Stockholm next year, three months later than normal. Our 2001 conference will return to the normal April date as we will again meet in conjunction with the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association.
Montreal Meeting:
Our sixth meeting in Montreal continued SSSR's string of outstanding professional conferences. Special thanks are due to program chairs Chuck Perfetti and Dick Olson for organizing another excellent program. The Montreal meeting established a new high for papers presented (127) but fell slightly below the San Diego meeting in terms of members and student members registered (211). Evaluation data were collected at each session and then again for the conference as a whole. All results are presented in terms of a ten-point scale where 1 = poor performance or disagreement, and 10 = excellent performance or strong agreement. The results are as follows:
Overall Conference Ratings
Mean SD
1. Rate your satisfaction with the entire conference. 9.38 .63The comments centered on the popularity of posters sessions (most members would like to see more), the importance of time between sessions to talk (most members would like to see more), and the need to have more sessions on comprehension processes and comprehension instruction, or as one respondent put it, "the other half of the simple view of reading." Also, all members liked the idea of coffee breaks with refreshments.2. Did the conference move reading research forward? 7.71 .95
3. How effective was the conference format? 7.50 2.50
4. Was time for presentations adequate? 5.00 .63
5. Was time for questions adequate? 7.29 1.57
6. Was number of presentations appropriate? 7.29 2.01
7. Rate the quality of presentations. 8.96 .36
8. The sessions contributed to your own scholarship. 7.08 .36
9. How important are coffee breaks? 10.00 .00
10. How important are refreshments between sessions? 10.00 .00
Poster Session Ratings
Mean SD
1. Rate your satisfaction with the entire session. 9.79 .362. Did the session move reading research forward? 9.58 .72
3. Was time for presentations adequate? 9.38 1.08
4. Was time for questions adequate? 9.62 .39
5. Was number of presentations appropriate? 9.79 .36
6. The posters contributed to your own scholarship. 9.17 1.44
7. Average session rating = 9.61 .67
Mean SD
1. Rate your satisfaction with the entire session. 8.81 1.752. Did the session move reading research forward? 9.06 .90
3. Was time for presentations adequate? 8.94 1.79
4. Was time for questions adequate? 8.81 1.57
5. Was number of presentations appropriate? 9.25 1.41
6. The papers contributed to your own scholarship. 7.56 2.40
7. Average session rating = 8.73 1.64
Mean SD
1. Rate your satisfaction with the entire session. 8.08 1.46The pattern of results shows that conference attendees liked poster sessions the best, followed by concurrent sessions. Plenary sessions finished a distant third. One interpretation of these data might be that attendees prefer choice in what they attend rather than being required to sit through a number of talks in which they may have little or no interest. Comments on the evaluations support this interpretation. However, it is important to note that the overall conference rating was 9.38 out of 10 suggesting that members value the conference and find it professionally and collegially valuable.2. Did the session move reading research forward? 7.83 1.74
3. Was time for presentations adequate? 6.48 2.99
4. Was time for questions adequate? 6.18 3.00
5. Was number of presentations appropriate? 7.63 2.21
6. The papers contributed to your own scholarship. 6.23 2.06
7. Average session rating = 7.09 2.22
Annual Meeting in Stockholm:
Next year we will convene our annual meeting in Stockholm, Sweden, July 22-24.
Program Proposals Due:
The Call for Proposals is enclosed. Note that the deadline is November 15th. The later date is due to our Stockholm meeting being held three months later than usual. Proposals are to be sent to Dr. Richard Olson.
His mailing address is (discouraged): His email address is (much preferred!):
Richard K. Olson rolson@psych.colorado.edu
Department of Psychology
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309
Interested members may check the Society web site for further information at WWW.GSE.UTAH.EDU/EDST/SSSR/.
SSSR Financial Status:
During our last meeting (after the Montreal conference), the SSSR Board decided that dues and fees increases were necessary to: (1) keep up with the society's growth, (2) continue to provide the conference amenities that the membership values so highly, (3) offset the increased costs of providing the society journal free to members with the payment of their dues, and (4) pay off a small budget deficit. The new dues and fees are as follows:
New SSSR Dues/Fees Structure
I. Association Dues:
Students = $40.00
Active, Voting, and Charter Members = $100.00.
II. Conference Pre-registration:A $25.00 late fee will be charged for dues paid after 31 March of each year.
Students = $40.00
Active, Voting, and Charter Members = $75.00
Non-members = $100.00.
III. Conference Registration - On-site:
Students = $50.00
Active, Voting, and Charter Members = $100.00
Non-members = $125.00.
The new Dues/Fees structure will allow the Society to meet its ongoing obligations, run its annual conference with more than a bare-bones budget, pay off its current debt, and invest about $4000.00 in a reserve fund each year.
Finally, the board has decided that the Society should sponsor an edited volume along the lines of NRC's Handbook of Reading Research. This would seem to benefit the Society for at least four ways: (1) it would present a much needed additional perspective on reading research and theory to the research and instruction communities (the NRC Handbook is highly cited), (2) it would establish the Society's position in relation to other national and international reading organizations, (3) it would give the society visibility at a critical point in the national debate concerning reading research and instruction, and (4) the proceeds of such a volume could be donated to the Society's reserve fund. Please feel free to send comments on or questions about these decisions to me or to any member of the SSSR Board.
Journal:
The Society Journal, Scientific Studies of Reading, continues to publish high quality articles under the Joanna's editorship. The Journal maintains a highly respectable rejection rate of about 75%, but still does not maintain an adequate backlog of articles accepted for publication. Consequently, it is imperative that we as society members support the Journal by sending in our work for publication. SSSR's membership includes many of the finest reading scholars in the world. As members continue to publish their work in SSR, it will become the major international reading research journal. So, please consider submitting an article to SSR this year.
For those of you interested in sending articles to SSR but are not sure whether or not your work is appropriate, I have reprinted the Journal's statements of editorial scope and intended audience:
Editorial Scope: This journal publishes original empirical investigations dealing with all aspects of reading and its related areas, and, occasionally, scholarly reviews of the literature, papers focused on theory development, and discussions of social policy issues. Papers range from very basic studies to those whose main thrust is toward educational practice. The journal also includes work on "all aspects of reading and its related areas," a phrase that is sufficiently general to encompass issues related to word recognition, comprehension, writing, intervention, and assessment involving very young children and/or adults. This includes investigations of eye movements, comparisons of orthographies, studies of response to literature and more. Commentary or criticism on topics pertinent to the journal's concerns are also considered for publication.
Intended Audience: Researchers in reading processes, educators, and professionals in related areas. If you desire to submit a paper to the Journal, please submit four printed copies to the Editor: Joanna P. Williams Department of Developmental & Educational Psychology Box 238 Teachers College, Columbia University New York, NY 10027.
Handbook Updates:
Please check the Web site for recent handbook updates completed by the Society's Historian, Dr. Barbara Foorman.
Ballot:
Enclosed for voting members only are the ballots for new board members and vice president of the society. Please return to Dr. Patricia Alexander, Secretary of SSSR, in the enclosed envelope by November 15th.
Have a great summer! Don't forget to vote and to submit our proposals by November 15th.
enclosures: call for papers
ballots & return address envelope (voting members only)
SSSR webpage maintained by our SSSR Web Slicer.
© 2001, 1998 Society for the Scientific Studies of Reading.
Last updated 7 June 2001