Research that's Changing the World
Sharon Vaughn and her colleagues have spent 30 years researching ways to improve reading outcomes for secondary-aged students with reading difficulties and students with dyslexia. Their work, involving extensive trials and thousands of students, has led to significant advancements in reading comprehension and academic success. Her key initiative, Promoting Adolescents’ Comprehension of Text (PACT), has shown promising results in improving content knowledge and reading comprehension. PACT practices, designed for use by general education teachers, have been validated through large-scale studies, demonstrating their effectiveness and sustainability.
What Starts Here
Vaughn is the Manuel J. Justiz Endowed Chair in Education at UT Austin and executive director of The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk. A leading expert in reading interventions and learning disabilities, she has authored more than 15 books and 250 peer-reviewed articles. Vaughn is a recipient of the AERA SIG Distinguished Researcher Award, UT’s Distinguished Faculty Award, and the President’s Research Impact Award. She leads multiple federally funded research projects focused on effective interventions for students with reading difficulties and English language learners, and she collaborates with educators around the world. Vaughn previously served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Learning Disabilities and co-editor of Learning Disabilities Research and Practice.
Beyond the Forty Acres
Nathan Jones, Commissioner for the National Center for Special Education Research within the Institute of Education Sciences, the independent research arm of the U.S. Department of Education: "Sharon was one of the first researchers who really brought the lens of prevention science into the work of special education, confirming that we can and should be targeting students’ development early in their academic careers. If can reach students at the very beginning and provide and build their foundational skills, we can change the trajectory of their educational outcomes in significant ways."
