John Z. Strong

John Z. Strong, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Literacy Education in the Department of Learning and Instruction in the Graduate School of Education at the University at Buffalo. A former high school English language arts teacher, his research interests include reading and writing instruction and assessment in elementary and secondary grades. His research focuses on developing and testing reading and writing interventions to support students’ foundational reading skills and comprehension of complex texts, with an emphasis on the role of text structure knowledge in reading and writing. His research emphasizes equitable literacy instruction and improving literacy achievement for diverse populations of students who are traditionally underserved by public schools.

Dr. Strong has published in leading journals, including Reading Research Quarterly and Scientific Studies of Reading. He is coauthor of the books Differentiated Literacy Instruction in Grades 4 & 5: Strategies and Resources and Literacy Instruction with Disciplinary Texts: Strategies for Grades 6-12. He has received external funding from the International Literacy Association (ILA) Steven A. Stahl Research Grant and the Advanced Education Research and Development Fund (AERDF) Reading Reimagined: Equitable Foundational Literacy Research with Older Learners program. He received the ILA Timothy and Cynthia Shanahan Outstanding Dissertation Award and was named a Reading Hall of Fame Emerging Scholars Fellow. He is an associate editor of The Reading Teacher and serves on the editorial review boards of Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Journal of Literacy Research, and Reading & Writing Quarterly.

• PhD, University of Delaware, Education (2019)
• MEd, University of Delaware, Reading (2014)
• BA, University of Delaware, English Education (2010)

• Service to Reading Award; Niagara Frontier Reading Council; 2023-06-14;
• Best Paper Award; Literacy Research Association; 2020-12-01;
• Emerging Scholars Fellowship; Reading Hall of Fame; 2020-08-03;
• Timothy & Cynthia Shanahan Outstanding Dissertation Award; International Literacy Association; 2020-07-28;
• Steven A. Stahl Research Grant; International Literacy Association; 2018-07-21;

• May, H., Strong, J. Z., & Walpole, S. (2023). The effects of Bookworms literacy curriculum on student achievement in grades 2-5. Scientific Studies of Reading. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2023.2284811
• Strong, J. Z., & Anderson, B. E. (2023). Effects of a summer tutoring program on reading achievement in grades K-5. Reading & Writing Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1080/10573569.2023.2266807
• Strong, J. Z. (2023). Investigating the effects and social validity of an informational text structure intervention for reading and writing in grades four and five. Reading Psychology, 44(7), 820-852. https://doi.org/10.1080/02702711.2023.2202172
• Strong, J. Z. (2023). Measuring text structure awareness in upper elementary grades. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 39(1), 16-35. https://doi.org/10.1080/10573569.2022.2025508
• Strong, J. Z. (2020). Investigating a text structure intervention for reading and writing in grades 4 and 5. Reading Research Quarterly, 55(4), 545– 551. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.356

• Strong, J. Z., & Anderson, B. E. (2023, December). Effects of a summer tutoring program on elementary students’ word recognition, oral reading fluency, and silent reading comprehension. In B. E. Anderson (Chair), Reading instruction in the elementary grades: Leveraging and expanding the research architecture. Symposium conducted at the Literacy Research Association 73rd Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA.;
• Strong, J. Z., & Anderson, B. E. (2023, November). Differentiated reading instruction project in urban elementary schools. In C. Hattan (Chair), Building a collaborative literacy research architecture through meaningful research-practice partnerships. Alternative format session conducted at the Literacy Research Association 73rd Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA.;
• Strong, J. Z., Tortorelli, L. S., Anderson, B. E., Fronczak, D., & Cho, E. (2024, April). Development of a multicomponent reading intervention in upper-elementary grades: Findings from a design experiment. Paper to be presented at the 2024 American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA.;
• Strong, J., Anderson, B., & Tortorelli, L. (2023, July). Effects of a summer tutoring program on reading skills in elementary grades. In E. Washburn (Chair), Bridging instructional opportunity gaps in reading and literacy through out-of-school instruction. Symposium conducted at the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading 30th Annual Meeting, Port Douglas, Australia.;
• Tortorelli, L. S., Strong, J. Z., & Anderson, B. E. (2023, November). The Read STOP Write project: Embedding multisyllabic decoding and vocabulary instruction in an informational text intervention. In A. Frederick, A. C. Ittner, & D. R. Townsend (Chairs), Word Study: Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Study Group. Study group session conducted at the Literacy Research Association 73rd Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA.;

• Read STOP Write: Development of a multicomponent intervention in grades 4-5; Foundation and Research Organization; Advanced Education Research and Development Fund – Reading Reimagined: Equitable Foundational Literacy Research with Older Learners; Awarded; (09/01/2022-06/30/2024)
• Investigating the impact and recovery from COVID-19 on reading achievement in urban elementary schools; State; Graduate School of Education Seed Grant: Reimagining Equity and Excellence in the Post-COVID-19 World; Awarded; (09/01/2021-05/31/2022)

• Editorial Review Board, Reading & Writing Quarterly
  10/05/2023-12/31/2024
• Editorial Review Board, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy
  01/31/2021-12/31/2023
• Editorial Review Board, The Reading Teacher
  01/31/2021-06/13/2022

• Literacy Research Association P. David Pearson Scholarly Influence Award Committee
  12/01/2021-12/31/2024
• Literacy Research Association Area Co-Chair in Public Engagement and Policy in Literacy
  12/31/2020-12/31/2023

• Associate Editor; The Reading Teacher
  06/13/2022-06/30/2024