Gay Su Pinnell (born June 28, 1944) is an American educational theorist and a professor emerita at the School of Teaching and Learning at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

. She is best known for her work with

Irene Fountas Irene C. Fountas (born 14 August 1948) is an American educational whole language theorist. She teaches at Lesley University Lesley University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is accredited by the New England Commission of ...

literacy Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, hum ...

and

guided reading Guided reading is "small-group reading instruction designed to provide differentiated teaching that supports students in developing reading proficiency". The small group model allows students to be taught in a way that is intended to be more focus ...

whole language Whole language is a philosophy of reading and a discredited educational method originally developed for teaching literacy in English to young children. The method became a major model for education in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and ...

teaching framework which layed the groundwork for the Fountas and Pinnell reading levels.

Education

Pinnell's parents were educators in Portales, New Mexico and Pinnell has an undergraduate degree from

Eastern New Mexico University Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU or Eastern) is a public university with a main campus in Portales, New Mexico, and two associate degree-granting branches, one at Ruidoso and one at Roswell. ENMU is New Mexico's largest regional comprehensiv ...

. In 1975, Pinnell earned her Ph.D. from Ohio State University where she worked on language in first grade students. In 2018,

Lesley University Lesley University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. As of 2018-19 Lesley University enrolled 6,593 students (2,707 undergraduate and 3,886 graduate). History ...

awarded Pinnell an honorary doctorate to recognize her contributions to childhood literacy.

Career

Working with Irene Fountas, Pinnell developed a

system of

for teachers which assigns letters (A through Z, commonly known as the Fountas and Pinnell reading levels) to students based on their reading ability and comprehension. Their work is also known as leveled reading, and establishes guidelines to identify books for children by reading level. Pinnell's books include ''Guided Reading Good First Teaching for All Children'' that was reviewed by

Harvard Educational Review The ''Harvard Educational Review'' is an academic journal of opinion and research dealing with education, associated with the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and published by the Harvard Education Publishing Group. The journal was established ...

, ''Literacy Quick Guide'' for pre-K to 8th grade, and ''Matching Books to Readers'' that was reviewed by

Education Review ''Education Review'' is an open-access academic journal publishing reviews of books in the field of education. It was established in 1998 by Gene V. Glass, Nicholas Burbules (University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign), and Kate Corby (Michiga ...

. Pinnell also contributed financially to literacy programs for young children, including multiple contributions to Ohio State's Literacy Collaborative and she endowed the Mary Fried Endowed Clinical Professorship at Ohio State University in 2020. Eastern New Mexico University named her Philanthropist of the Year in 2019.

Selected publications

* * *

Awards

*Charles A. Dana Award for Pioneering Achievement in Education (1993) *Hall of Fame, International Reading Association (1999) *Alumni Medalist Award, Ohio State University Alumni Association (2016) *Inaugural winner of the Diane Lapp & James Flood Professional Collaborator Award, International Literacy Association (2018) *International Reading Association’s Albert J. Harris Award

References

External links

Fountas & Pinnell Literacy
*, May 22, 2018 {{DEFAULTSORT:Pinnell, Gay Su Ohio State University alumni Ohio State University faculty American educational theorists 1944 births Living people Eastern New Mexico University alumni