He has been active in professional organizations, serving the International Reading Association (IRA) and the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) in many capacities (including the IRA Board of Directors), both the National Reading Conference (NRC) and The National Conference of Research in English as President, and the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education as a member of the Board. He currently serves as the Chair of IRA’s Literacy Research Panel.

Awards include the 1989 Oscar Causey Award for outstanding contributions to reading research from the NRC and the 1990 William S.Gray Citation of Merit. for his contributions to theory, research, and practice from the IRA. In 2004, he received the Alan Purves Award from NCTE for the Research in Teaching English article most likely to influence practice, and in 2005, the Albert J. Harris Award from IRA for scholarship on reading difficulties. In 2006, the University of Minnesota honored him with the Alumni Outstanding Achievement Award, the highest non-academic award given at the University, for his contributions to educational research and practice. In 2010, he received the AERA Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education Award. In 2003, he was elected to membership in the National Academy of Education (NAE) and in 2009 to membership as a Fellow of the AERA. In 2012, the Literacy Research Association (formerly the NRC) created the P. David Pearson Scholarly Influence Award to honor scholarship that impacts literacy practice.