John Sabatini

John Sabatini is a Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Institute for Intelligent Systems at the University of Memphis. He was formerly a Principal Research Scientist in the Center for Global Research, Research & Development Division at Educational Testing Service in Princeton, NJ. His research interests and expertise are in reading literacy development and disabilities, assessment, cognitive psychology, and educational technology, with a primary focus on adults and adolescents. He has been the principal investigator of Institute of Education Sciences funded grants to develop pre-K -12 comprehension assessments, as part of the Reading for Understanding initiative, and to adapt those assessments for use in adult education programs, as well as co-PI on a grant project that explores how online collaborative, critical discussions can facilitate the writing of arguments in middle grades students. He has completed an NICHD funded Learning Disabilities Research Center project studying subtypes of reading disabilities in adolescents and a NICHD/Dept of Education/National Institute for Literacy grant studying the relative effectiveness of reading programs for adults.

He was lead editor of two volumes on innovations in reading comprehension assessment published in 2012 and has served as co-editor for three special journal issues on adult literacy (Scientific Study of Reading, 2002; Journal of Learning Disabilities, 2010; and Journal of Research Effectiveness and Evaluation, 2011). He also serves as a co-investigator on projects exploring the reading processes of adolescents, English language learners, and students with reading based disabilities. He provides technical and research advice to national and international surveys including the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PISA), the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and National Assessments of Adult Literacy (NAAL).