Marilyn Jager Adams

Marilyn Jager Adams is currently a Visiting Scholar in the Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences Department at Brown University. Her scholarly work, which has focused primarily on the development of language, literacy, and cognition, includes the book Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning About Print. She has also been principal author on a number of research-validated classroom resources and an advisor to several educational television initiatives including Sesame Street (1990–1995) and Between the Lions (1995–2010). Formerly a senior scientist at Bolt Beranek and Newman (BBN Technologies), she co-founded Soliloquy Learning, Inc., where she served as chief scientist with the goal of harnessing automatic speech recognition for educational purposes. Dr. Adams chaired the Planning Committee, was a member of the Study Committee for the National Academy of Sciences’ report, Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children, and has served since 1992 on the Planning, Steering, or Standing Committees for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in reading. She also served on the English/Language Arts Development Team for the K–12 Common Core State Standards Initiative.