Research Commissioner

Foorman Is Tapped for Education Dept. Job

Just days before this week’s elections, the Department of Education named as its new research commissioner a scholar whose work has generated controversy among reading researchers.

Barbara R. Foorman, a professor of pediatrics and the director of the Center for Academic and Reading Skills at the University of Texas Houston Health Center, is a respected academician. But her appointment may rankle some reading researchers because her work has been closely tied to federal-level efforts to promote phonics-based approaches to reading over other instructional methods.

Given the criticism that’s expected to come, some observers asked why the department didn’t wait...