About the researchers.

Bill Louden is Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Community Services, Education and Social Sciences at Edith Cowan University. He has published widely on educational change, science education, and literacy. Professor Louden is a member of the National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy Committee established by the Minister for Education, Science and Training, Hon Dr Brendan Nelson.

Mary Rohl is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at Edith Cowan University. She has many years experience as a classroom teacher. Over the past nine years she has been either a co-director or senior researcher for six Commonwealth funded national literacy projects, in addition to various state-funded projects. Her teaching and research interests are literacy learning and teaching with a particular focus on the early years, teaching students with learning difficulties and teacher education for literacy and numeracy teaching.

Caroline Barratt-Pugh is a senior lecturer in the School of Education at Edith Cowan University. Her research interests include family and community literacies, literacy learning in the early years, bilingual and multiliteracies and teacher pedagogy. Her publications include journal articles, book chapters and, with Mary Rohl, an edited book on early literacy. Recently she has completed the text Early Childhood Literacy Learning: Practical Literacy Ideas for the Early Years. She has worked on various national and state-funded literacy research projects.

Claire Brown is a researcher at Edith Cowan University. She has worked on various nationally funded research projects in the areas of professional standards for teachers. For the In Teachers" Hands project she oversaw the video collection and analysis and the website development phases of the project. She is presently working on projects exploring the reconceptualising of pedagogy using new technologies, particularly using video online as a teaching and learning tool for both tertiary and school settings.

Trevor Cairney is a Professor of Education at the University of New South Wales and Master of New College. He has been researching and writing about literacy for almost 30 years. A past President of ALEA, he has been actively involved throughout his career in literacy policy and practice in Australia and overseas and has been responsible for over 200 publications in the field of literacy.

Jessica Elderfield completed her Bachelor of Psychology in 1997. She has worked in the research field for the past ten years, both for ECU and on a consultancy basis, providing statistical advice for post-graduate students. Currently, her research interests are in program evaluation, the computation of scales to describe educational and social phenomena, and analysing educational progress through multilevel modelling. She played a significant role in planning and conducting the statistical analyses for the In Teachers' Hands project.

Helen House has worked over the past ten years on Australian Government funded research projects. She was manager of the In Teachers' Hands project and is at present manager of the Student Growth Study research team, which is a three-year project funded by the WA Department of Education and Training. This project focuses on students' development of literacy skills in Pre-primary and Year 1 and the mathematical knowledge of Year 8 students.

Marion Meiers is a senior research fellow at the Australian Council for Educational Research. Her research interests are in the areas of English and literacy education, and teacher professional development. She is the project director for the ACER Longitudinal Literacy and Numeracy Study (LLANS). She is an executive member of the National Council of the Australian Literacy Educators' Association (ALEA).

Judith Rivalland is Professor of Language and Literacy and Associate Dean of Teaching and Learning in the Faculty of Community Services, Education and Social Sciences at Edith Cowan University. She is also Director of the Fogarty Learning Centre which co-ordinates teaching and research in language and literacy, numeracy, science and curriculum studies. Her interests are in literacy development, the effective teaching of early and primary literacy and literacy difficulties. Over the past nine years Judith has worked on six DEST national literacy research projects.

Dr Ken Rowe is the Research Director of the Learning Processes and Contexts research program at the Australian Council for Educational Research Committee and is Chair of the National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy. His substantive research interests include program evaluation, assessment, measurement and advanced statistical modelling, models of quality assurance, and teacher and school effectiveness.