Sources of Reading Research

The U.S. Department of Education funds a system of 10 organizations that provide technical assistance to the states in its region. Each regional laboratory’s website offers a wealth of information.

• REL Appalachia (opens in a new window) (Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia)
• REL Central (opens in a new window) (Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming) at Mid-continent Regional Educational Laboratory (McREL) (opens in a new window)
• REL Mid-Atlantic (opens in a new window) (Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C.)
• REL Midwest (opens in a new window) (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin)
• REL Northeast & Islands (opens in a new window) (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virgin Islands) at Education Development Center (opens in a new window)
• REL Northwest (opens in a new window) (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington) at Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) (opens in a new window)
• REL Pacific (opens in a new window) (American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, Micronesia, Guam, Hawaii, Marshall Islands, Palau) at Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL) (opens in a new window)
• REL Southeast (opens in a new window) (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina) at SERVE Center, University of North Carolina at Greensboro (opens in a new window)
• REL Southwest (opens in a new window) (Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas)
• REL West (opens in a new window) (Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah) at WestEd (opens in a new window)

The following are journals that publish articles and research related to reading issues. The organization that publishes each journal is indicated in parentheses.

• Action in Teacher Education (opens in a new window) (Association of Teacher Educators)
• American Educational Research Journal (opens in a new window) (American Educational Research Association)
• Child Development (opens in a new window) (Society for Research in Child Development)
• Cognitive Development (opens in a new window)
• Comparative Education Review (opens in a new window) (Comparative and International Education Society)
• Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood (opens in a new window)
• Early Childhood Research Quarterly (opens in a new window) (National Association for the Education of Young Children)
• Early Childhood Education Journal (opens in a new window)
• Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis (opens in a new window) (American Educational Research Association)
• Educational Leadership (opens in a new window) (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development)
• Educational Researcher (opens in a new window) (American Educational Research Association)
• English Journal (opens in a new window) (National Council of Teachers of English)
• Equity and Excellence in Education (opens in a new window)
• Exceptional Children (opens in a new window) (Council for Exceptional Children)
• Harvard Educational Review (opens in a new window) (Harvard Graduate School of Education)
• International Journal of Educational Research (opens in a new window)
• Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (opens in a new window) (International Reading Association)
• Journal of Developmental Education (opens in a new window) (National Center for Developmental Education)
• Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education (opens in a new window) (National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators)
• Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics (opens in a new window) (American Educational Research Association)
• Journal of Educational Measurement (opens in a new window) (National Council on Measurement in Education)
• Journal of Educational Psychology (opens in a new window) (American Psychological Association)
• Journal of Educational Research (opens in a new window)
• Journal of Experimental Education (opens in a new window)
• Journal of Literacy Research (opens in a new window) (National Reading Conference)
• Journal of Research in Childhood Education (opens in a new window) (Association for Childhood Education International)
• Journal of Teacher Education (opens in a new window) (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education)
• Language Arts (opens in a new window) (National Council of Teachers of English)
• Merrill-Palmer Quarterly: Journal of Developmental Psychology (opens in a new window)
• Reading Research Quarterly (opens in a new window) (International Literacy Association)
• Research in Developmental Disabilities (opens in a new window)
• Review of Educational Research (opens in a new window) (American Educational Research Association)
• Review of Research in Education (opens in a new window) (American Educational Research Association)
• Studies in Educational Evaluation (opens in a new window)
• Teacher Education and Special Education (opens in a new window)
• Teacher Education Quarterly (opens in a new window)
• Teaching Exceptional Children (opens in a new window) (Council for Exceptional Children)
• The Reading League Journal (opens in a new window)
• The Reading Teacher (opens in a new window) (International Literacy Association)
• Urban Education (opens in a new window)
• Young Children (opens in a new window) (National Association for the Education of Young Children)

The websites, publications, and conferences of the following associations offer updated research in reading and related education issues. 

• American Educational Research Association (opens in a new window)
• American Federation of Teachers (opens in a new window)
• American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (opens in a new window)
• Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (opens in a new window)
• Council for Exceptional Children (opens in a new window)
• International Dyslexia Association (opens in a new window)
• International Literacy Association (opens in a new window)
• National Association for Bilingual Education (opens in a new window)
• National Association for the Education of Young Children (opens in a new window)
• National Association of Elementary School Principals (opens in a new window)
• National Association of School Psychologists (opens in a new window)
• National Association for State Directors of Special Education (opens in a new window)
• National Education Association (opens in a new window)

The following databases are rich sources of usually free reading research.

• ERIC – Education Resources Information Center (opens in a new window)
• The Partnership for Reading, National Institute for Literacy (opens in a new window)
• The Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication (opens in a new window) (Indiana University School of Education)

Other databases require university affiliation or allow individual access for a fee. These include:

• PsycINFO (opens in a new window)

  The main PsycINFO database contains almost 2 million references to psychological literature from the 1800s-present, and includes journal articles, books, book chapters, technical reports, and dissertations.

• OVID (opens in a new window)

  This database provides citations and abstracts for education-related journals and magazine articles, and also searches journals from other disciplines.

• LexisNexis (opens in a new window)

  Use this database to locate fulltext newspaper articles on your subject.

• Linguistics & Language Behavior Abstracts (CSA) (opens in a new window)

  This database covers all aspects of the study of language including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. Complete coverage is also given to various fields of linguistics including descriptive, historical, comparative, theoretical, and geographical linguistics. (Dates covered: 1973 - present)

• Mental Measurements Yearbook (opens in a new window)

  This database includes more than 2,200 commercially-available tests in categories such as personality, developmental, behavioral assessment, neuropsychological, achievement, intelligence and aptitude, educational, speech and hearing, and sensory motor.