Keith James Topping

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Keith James Topping
Keith James Topping 2.jpg
Keith James Topping
Born (1947-10-01) 1 October 1947 (age 78)
OccupationProfessor, researcher, author
NationalityBritish

Keith James Topping (born 1 October 1947) is a researcher in education. He designs intervention programs for teachers, parents and others to help children, then researches whether and how they work. [1]

Contents

The public impact of his research work has been reported over the last 35 years in national and international newspapers [2] [3] [4] and on radio, [5] television [6] and in news media online. [7]

He is a professor of educational and social research at the University of Dundee, and an author of 26 books and over 400 academic peer reviewed journal papers, distance learning resources and other publications. [8] [9]

He is also a speaker and presenter (e.g. at the University of Exeter). [10]

His main research interests are language and literacy, peer tutoring and other forms of peer learning, parents as educators, problematic behavior and social competence, computer assisted learning and assessment, and inclusion. [8] [9] [11]

Early life and background

He is married to Chen (b 1963). He has three children, all boys. [12]

He went to the University of Sussex (social psychology BA), then to the University of Nottingham (child psychology MA), then to the University of Sheffield where he researched educational psychology (obtaining his PhD). He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society. [8]

Work

He has a background in social work, teaching, and educational psychology. In 1992 he established an educational psychology training course at the University of Dundee, and later became a professor there. [1] [8]

He developed a suite of literacy interventions: Paired Reading, Cued Spelling, and Paired Writing, which are disseminated by the English government as part of its evidence-based Wave 3 literacy intervention initiative. [13]

He has worked as a member of the International Reading Association Task Force on the transfer into policy and practice of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). [14]

A distance learning resource on tutoring created for UNESCO has been translated into Mandarin, Spanish and Catalan and distributed to Education Ministers in 190  countries, 5,000 copies by the University of Illinois to academic staff in 17 US universities, and 10,000 by Cabrini to voluntary organizations in the Chicago area [15]

A large scale (125 schools) randomised controlled trial has been undertaken, funded by ESRC in collaboration with Fife Council and the University of Durham [16]

He was cited as an "outstanding researcher" by President Bill Clinton during his time in office for his input to the "America Reads" initiative, which was later replicated under his supervision in Scotland. [17]

In 2011 he was awarded the "Outstanding Contribution to Cooperative Learning Award" by the American Educational Research Association, for significant contributions to the theory and research underlying cooperative learning. [18]

In 2020, he was reported to be the most cited educational researcher in Scotland, the eighth most cited educational researcher in the UK, and the 85th most cited educational researcher in the world. [19]

Bibliography

References

  1. 1 2 "LENA Advisor". LENA. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  2. Boffey, Daniel (23 October 2016). "The truth about boys and books: they read less – and skip pages". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  3. Duncanson, Hilary (23 February 2017). "Reading age slips as pupils leave primary". The Times . Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  4. Gray, Alex (25 October 2016). "Girls are reading more than boys - here's why". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  5. BBC (24 July 2017). "Latest Scots school attainment gap funding set out". BBC.
  6. "Secondary pupils not reading challenging books".
  7. "Teenage Reading Ages 'Slip Behind By Up To Three Years'". BBC News. 23 February 2017.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Professor Keith Topping". University of Dundee. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  9. 1 2 "Keith James Topping - Routledge & CRC Press Author Profile". www.routledge.com. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  10. "University of Exeter".
  11. "Keith Topping". ResearchGate. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  12. Who's who in scotland: 2017. Kilmarnock: Carrick Media. 2016. ISBN   978-0-9933162-2-7.
  13. "What works for children" (PDF).
  14. Brozo, William G.; Shiel, Gerry; Topping, Keith (2007). "Engagement in Reading: Lessons Learned from Three PISA Countries". Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. 51 (4): 304–315. doi:10.1598/JAAL.51.4.2. JSTOR   40026882.
  15. "Tutoring (UNESCO)" (PDF).
  16. "Peer tutoring RCT".
  17. "Dundee: education".
  18. Roseth, C. (2011). Outstanding Contribution to Cooperative Learning Award. Washington, DC: AERA.
  19. Ioannidis, John P. A.; Boyack, Kevin W.; Baas, Jeroen (16 October 2020). "Updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators". PLOS Biology. 18 (10) e3000918. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000918 . PMC   7567353 . PMID   33064726.