Richard L Allington

Richard L. Allington is an American literacy scholar and professor emeritus of literacy studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where he served on the faculty from 2005 until his retirement in 2017. He has published more than 150 articles, chapters, and books on reading instruction and reading difficulties and is widely recognized for his research on preventing and addressing reading disabilities. Allington is coauthor of No More Summer-Reading Loss (NOT THIS, BUT THAT), as well as several influential volumes including What Really Matters for Struggling Readers: Designing Research-Based Programs, Reading Instruction That Works: The Case for Balanced Teaching (with Michael Pressley), and, with Anne McGill-Franzen, Summer Reading: Closing the Rich/Poor Reading Achievement Gap and the Handbook of Reading Disability Research.

He earned his Ph.D. in elementary and special education from Michigan State University and previously held positions at the University of Florida as the Irving and Rose Fien Distinguished Professor of Education and at the University at Albany, SUNY, where he chaired the reading program. Allington is a past president of both the International Reading Association (now International Literacy Association) and the Literacy Research Association, has twice received the Albert J. Harris Award for outstanding work on reading disabilities, and has been elected to the Reading Hall of Fame.