Profile  

Mariam Jean Dreher received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Riverside. Before joining the faculty at University of Maryland, she was an elementary school teacher for 10 years. She taught fourth grade and sixth grade, and served as a Title I reading specialist for children in the first, second, and third grades. She has published in such journals as Reading Research Quarterly, The Reading Teacher, Journal of Literacy Research, Language Arts, and Journal of Educational Psychology, and recently co-edited the book, Engaging Young Readers: Promoting Achievement and Motivation (New York: Guilford Press, 2000). She is the senior author of Easy Steps to Writing Fantastic Research Reports (New York: Scholastic, 2000). 

Her research interests include helping elementary school students become skilled readers and users of both stories and exposition. As a principal investigator in the federally-funded National Reading Research Center, she conducted research on improving intermediate-grade students' strategies for finding and using information. Her current work deals with primary-grade children reading and using information text. With support from a recently-awarded Spencer Foundation Major Research Grant, she will be investigating this issue in depth in a longitudinal study that follows children from 2nd to 4th grade to document the effects of enhancing children's opportunity to interact with information books.
 

Selected Recent Publictions 

            Dreher, M. J. (2000). Fostering reading for learning. In L. Baker, M. J. Dreher, & J. T. Guthrie (Eds.), Engaging young readers: Promoting achievement and motivation. New York: Guilford Press.

            Dreher, M. J.,  Davis, K. A., Waynant, P., & Clewell, S. F. (2000). Easy steps to writing fantastic research reports. New York: Scholastic.

            Dreher, M. J. (1998/1999). Motivating children to read more nonfiction. The Reading Teacher, 52, 414-417.

            Dreher, M. J.,  Davis, K. A., Waynant, P., & Clewell, S. F. (1998).  Fourth-grade researchers:  Helping children develop strategies for finding and using information. National Reading Conference Yearbook, 47, 311-322.

            Korkeamäki, R., & Dreher, M. J. (in press). Finnish kindergartners’ literacy development in contextualized literacy episodes: A focus on spelling. Journal of Literacy Research

Recent Grants

Title:                                Balancing Learning to Read and Reading for Learning: Achievement and  
                            Engagement in Young Children’s Reading Instruction

Investigators:                 Mariam Jean Dreher, Linda Baker

Funding Organization:  Spencer Foundation Major Research Grant

Dates:                            June 2001-September 2004                                

Total amount:                 $445,750