CARS Director Foorman Named to Federal Research Post

U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige has named Barbara R. Foorman, Ph.D., the first Commissioner for Education Research at the Institute of Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education, starting Jan. 1, 2005.

Barbara R. Foorman, Ph.D.

Foorman, professor of pediatrics and director of the Center for Academic and Reading Skills (CARS) at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, is an internationally recognized scholar in the areas of reading and language development.

"I'm delighted to have been selected as the first ever to serve in this capacity," Foorman said. "As Commissioner, I will work to support research aimed at improving education at all levels by providing grants that expand the fundamental knowledge and understanding of education from early childhood through post-secondary study."

Foorman currently serves on the editorial boards of several journals and is principal investigator or co-principal investigator on major federal grants in early reading interventions, early reading assessment, and bilingual/ bi-literacy. She has chaired Houston ISD's Committee on a Balanced Approach to Reading and worked to revise and validate the Texas Primary Reading Inventory, which is used in 95 percent of Texas school districts and in several other states. She served on National Academy of Science committees on the "Prevention of Reading Difficulties in Young Children" and was a member of the advisory board for the federal Office of Educational Research Improvement.

"Dr. Foorman's selection for this important role in federal education research signals the great strides made by our various outstanding programs affiliated with developmental pediatrics - Reach Out and Read- Texas, CIRCLE and CARS - now known collectively as the Children's Learning Institute," said UT Health Science Center president James T. Willerson, M.D. "We are extremely proud of Dr. Foorman and very grateful for all she has done at our university."

Foorman's federal appointment is for six years. She is taking a leave from her faculty position to start.

By David R. Bates, Public Affairs