[Reading-hall-of-fame] new committee

[jim hoffman]

Dear "Reading Hall of Fame" Colleagues,

I write to you in my role as President to explain the function of a 
committee I am organizing, with the charges listed below.  For the 
past three years, I have collaborated with several members of the 
Reading Hall of Fame to organize symposia (e.g., Hall of Fame 
sessions at the annual IRA meeting) that focus on trends in research, 
practice, and policy.  In addition, I have been engaged in 
conversations - both email and directly - with many members who have 
suggested various activities that seem to connect in their reflection 
of assuming an advocacy role with respect to these current trends in 
research, practice and policy.  Based on these experiences, I believe 
it makes sense to take a serious look at this new activity in which 
we already seem to be engaged.  There are likely to be many questions 
about how we as an organization might choose issues to which we would 
respond, how we would solicit volunteers among the membership to 
participate, how we will handle situations if the members themselves 
do not have consensus of opinion, and so forth.

It does not surprise me that we are being approached to participate 
in such events - the collective wisdom of our members seems to be 
particularly valuable at a time when our field is facing so many 
challenges.  Thus, I believe it is timely to step back and examine 
how we might best respond in a responsible manner to such requests 
and do so in a way that aligns with the goals of our organization.

I am asking this committee to address the following charges:

1. to assess the current membership of the Reading Hall of Fame 
regarding the role of the organization with respect to issues of 
research, practice and policy;

2. to consider the statement of purpose for the organization in the 
existing by-laws with respect to the findings related to charge #1;

3. to make recommendations consistent with the findings from charges 1 and 2.

The committee would gather data and prepare a report on these three 
charges.  The report would be presented at the May (08) meeting. 
Ideally, I hope to have a draft report from this committee to 
distribute by email in anticipation of the meeting.  I am not asking, 
at this time, for the committee to recommend or describe specific 
examples of advocacy efforts that might be part of this revised 
purpose statement, although they may wish to explore some of these in 
there gathering of data. I think we need to focus first on whether 
this is where we want to go, and if the answer is yes then move 
toward strategic planning.

I have asked Taffy Raphael to serve as chair of this ad hoc committee 
and she has agreed. We would like to have representation on this 
committee of diverse opinions on the future of the organization. 
Understanding that the Hall of Fame is independent of IRA, but in 
recognition of the long-standing intersection for most of our members 
among the two organizations, I plan to invite at least one current 
board member to serve on this committee. If you would like to serve 
on this committee please write directly to Taffy (taffy at uic.edu) with 
a copy to me (jhoffman at mail.utexas.edu). It is important that the 
committee reflect the diversity of the organization.  This will not 
be your only option to participate in the deliberations, but your 
input at the committee level will insure balance and transparency 
throughout the process. 

Sincerely,  jim hoffman
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