Douglas Fisher still recalls his first college paper, written for an English class when he was a first-year student at San Diego State University. The topic he chose to write about was aliteracy — the state of being able to read, but choosing not to.
Now professor and chair in SDSU’s Department of Educational Leadership (EDL), Fisher’s passion for literacy hasn’t dimmed.
“I've been interested in literacy and how the brain learns to read for a really long time,” Fisher said. “Having been a teacher, having been an educational leader, I think about literacy as a gatekeeping skill. It provides access to all other kinds of content area learning.”
Fisher was recently named one of five new members of the Reading Hall of Fame — an independent organization that honors individuals of renown in the literacy field. Upon his induction on Dec. 1, he will join EDL professor emeritus Diane Lapp (inducted in 2005) among the more than 100 living members from around the world.
“It's an honor — it's amazing,” Fisher said. “It got me thinking about all the things I've done all these years. It’s like the outside world saying, ‘Wow, you do know something about teaching kids to read.’”
Fisher has co-authored multiple books on the topic of literacy — including one of his first, “Improving Adolescent Literacy,” which was inspired by his experience of implementing a school-wide literacy plan while working for the City Heights Collaborative at San Diego’s Hoover High School in 1999. The focus on school-wide literacy was later included in California’s state curriculum framework.
Effectively teaching children to read, according to Fisher, takes dedicated teachers — but it goes beyond that. Educational leaders must also magnify effective practices around literacy across their schools.
“If you can develop a school-wide culture of learning, and a school-wide culture focusing on literacy, our students do better,” Fisher said. “Part of a leader’s role is to say, ‘Are our students experiencing high-quality instruction? Are they being asked to have eyes on text throughout the day?’”