Dr. Wesley Hoover

Wesley A. Hoover earned his PhD in Human Experimental Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin with a specialty in psycholinguistics. He worked at the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) for 35 years in the areas of early reading, bilingual reading, and language acquisition, leading research, research application, and several large-scale professional development projects. His main research centered on the cognitive underpinnings of reading, focused on detailing the specifications and predictions of conceptual models and testing them in the context of early grade reading. In his last 18 years at SEDL he served as its President and CEO, culminating work there by leading its 2015 merger with the American Institutes for Research (AIR). Within AIR, he served as Executive Vice President and Senior Advisor, working on merger transition issues and special projects within the field of literacy, before retiring in 2019. He now devotes his time to writing, speaking, and consulting on issues surrounding the cognitive foundations of reading.