The National Reading Conference: Presidential retrospectives

As the Journal of Literacy Research (formerly Journal of Reading Behavior) commemorates its 30th anniversary, this article offers a collection of refl ective essays written by past presidents of the National Reading Conference , the journal's parent organization. They write with reference to the year they served as president of the organization and consider such issues as th e nature and character of the organization at that time and the major resea rch topics under investigation. The compilers of the essays attempt a synth esis of the reports that focuses on recurrent themes and issues as the orga nization and the field of inquiry have evolved over time.