Dr. Alfred W. Tatum

One of the most respected literacy scholars in the United States — and the mind behind the Multi-Dimensional Reading Model.

Dr. Alfred W. Tatum began his career as an eighth-grade teacher on Chicago’s South Side, where he saw how the right texts could change the direction of a young reader’s life. That conviction has driven three decades of research, teaching, and leadership in literacy.

He earned his Ph.D. in Literacy, Language, and Culture at the University of Illinois at Chicago, went on to direct the UIC Reading Clinic, and served as Dean of the UIC College of Education. He later became Provost of Metropolitan State University of Denver, where he now leads the Literacy Research Center and Clinic.

Across books, national reading programs, and research with hundreds of students, one idea holds steady: reading instruction should take every student as far as their potential will carry them. MDRM turns that scholarship into a system districts can put to work.

Three decades at the front of literacy.

80+ publications on literacy development.

Four major reading and writing programs used in classrooms nationwide.

Director of the UIC Reading Clinic (2007–2020); former Dean of Education, UIC.

Former Provost of Metropolitan State University of Denver; now Executive Director of its Literacy Research Center and Clinic.

NAEP national reading committee; past President, Literacy Research Association.

Leading authority on literacy development for adolescent and striving readers; originator of the textual-lineages framework.

The Scholarship

The ideas behind MDRM.

Textual lineages

Every reader carries a lineage of texts that shaped who they are. Tatum pioneered helping students build and reconnect with the books that define them — so reading becomes identity, not just skill.

Enabling texts

Some texts do more than teach skills — they speak to a student’s cultural, emotional, and intellectual life. MDRM anchors instruction in these “enabling texts” that move readers forward in and out of school.

A multi-dimensional model

Reading is more than decoding. Tatum’s research treats it as cognitive, cultural, and personal at once — the multi-dimensional model of reading that gives MDRM its name.

Selected Books