Intergovernmental negotiations on the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals will conclude in
September 2015 and it looks likely that there will be an education goal underpinned by targets
focused on improved and equitable learning outcomes. This will give new emphasis to reading
development, as a foundation for successful learning and the futures it makes possible. To date,
the recommendations of the 2000 US National Reading Panel (NRP) have played a large part in shaping ideas about reading pedagogy and assessment for children in developing as well as developed contexts. Although the NRP recommended treating comprehension as one of the five essentials of reading pedagogy, early reading interventions have been dominated by decoding. Further attention is warranted as to whether that emphasis is likely to be the most effective way to repair the main observed problem in developing contexts, namely comprehension deficits. To what extent is the framing of solutions for struggling readers in advanced economies applicable to contexts in which the gulf between home and school environment in culture, language and learning is much deeper and more pervasive? This symposium assembles a number of studies that argue the importance of comprehension in reading pedagogy and assessment if improved learning outcomes from schooling are to be achieved. It addresses the subtheme questions concerning which assumptions and principles should underpin pedagogy and assessment for sustainable futures, and what the relationship should be between international assessments and local conditions and priorities.Intergovernmental negotiations on the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals will conclude in September 2015 and it looks likely that there will be an education goal underpinned by targets focused on improved and equitable learning outcomes. This will give new emphasis to reading development, as a foundation for successful learning and the futures it makes possible. To date, the recommendations of the 2000 US National Reading Panel (NRP) have played a large part in shaping ideas about reading pedagogy and assessment for children in developing as well as developed contexts. Although the NRP recommended treating comprehension as one of the five essentials of reading pedagogy, early reading interventions have been dominated by decoding. Further attention is warranted as to whether that emphasis is likely to be the most effective way to repair the main observed problem in developing contexts, namely comprehension deficits. To what extent is the framing of solutions for struggling readers in advanced economies applicable to contexts in which the gulf between home and school environment in culture, language and learning is much deeper and more pervasive?

This symposium assembles a number of studies that argue the importance of comprehension in reading pedagogy and assessment if improved learning outcomes from schooling are to be achieved. It addresses the subtheme questions concerning which assumptions and principles should underpin pedagogy and assessment for sustainable futures, and what the relationship should be between international assessments and local conditions and priorities.