News - 2009
Special Education and Literacy Studies
College of Education and Human DevelopmentNews
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2009
Presentations were made at the 2009 Conference of the American Evaluation Association by special education doctoral students:
- Amy Schelling: Evaluating Educational Partnership Projects: Four Approaches
- Jennifer Hill: Empowerment Evaluation in Context: Tools for Determining Impact of State Capacity Building for Increasing Outcomes of Students With Disabilities
- Rashell Bowerman: Evaluating Impact and Outcomes of Transition Programs in the Context of Federally-funded Projects
Dr. Liz Whitten, professor, published the book: RTI Success: Proven Tools and Strategies for Schools and Classrooms (Free Spirit Press). Response to Intervention is an innovative instructional method that enables educators to assess and meet the needs of struggling students before they have fallen too far behind. The book includes step-by-step guidelines for implementing RTI in schools and provides hundreds of pragmatic, research-based instructional strategies for classroom teachers to target specific skill deficits in their students. Vignettes and school profiles demonstrate RTI techniques in diverse settings, and reproducible forms streamline assessment and documentation procedures.
The Department of Special Education and Literacy Studies participated in the second annual WMU Day at the Capitol which featured dozens of WMU programs and projects.
Congratulations to senior Phoenicia Green honored as a 2009 Presidential Scholar, the highest academic award that WMU can bestow to an undergraduate. Phoenicia was selected by faculty members as the most outstanding senior in the program. Selection is based on the students' general academic excellence, academic and/or artistic excellence in their majors, and intellectual and/or artistic promise.
Judith Medendorp received a "Make a Difference" Award for wonderful service to the Department of Special Education and Literacy Studies. Congratulations!
Dr. Karen Feathers is an award-winning educator internationally known for
her work in literacy. Dr. Feathers is coordinator of the
Reading, Language and Literature program in the Division of Teacher
Education at Wayne State University in Detroit.
Dr. Feathers has prominent publications in the field of literacy,
both research articles
and instructional material. Her research has attracted prestigious
funding support from the Michigan Department of Education, Verizon,
and The U.S. Department of Education. Her
current work with colleague Dr. Poonam Arya focuses on ways that reading success is
affected by the structures of text that readers view. Sensitive eye
movement measuring
equipment has revealed the reading strategies of urban students
labeled “at risk,” yielding promising insights about what these
young readers need in order to be effective, efficient readers.
The presentations were presented:
Understanding How Readers See Texts:
Supporting Student Achievement, March 19, 2009
The Texts Diverse Readers Need for Success:
Compelling Evidence from Eye Movement Research, March 19,2009
For further information: Co-coordinators of this event were
WMU Department of Special
Education and Literacy Studies.
Co-sponsors: Department of Special Education and Literacy Studies, Department of Teaching, Learning and Leadership, Department of English, and the WMU visiting Scholars and Artists Program.
The on-campus Reading Tutoring Program was held Jul. 7-Jul. 30. This was an exceptional opportunity for school-aged children who needed supplemental instruction in reading, writing and/or study skills.
Dr. Shaila Rao, associate professor, in collaboration with faculty from Spain, has completed two data collection projects in five Southwest Michigan elementary and middle schools. The studies were conducted with the help of teachers from Battle Creek, Kalamazoo, and Gull Lake school districts. The first studied the teaming process in schools and how it contributes to the successful embracing of diversity. The second study looked at how diversity is viewed by educators in schools. The findings of the projects will be presented in July in Alicante, Spain.
Dr. Rao also co-authored an article with former MA in special education student, Ms. Lynette Mallow. The article, Simultaneous Prompting: A teaching method to promote the recall of multiplication facts by students with cognitive impairments, will be published in the March issue of Education and Training in Developmental Disabilities. In addition, Dr. Rao and co-author special education senior Elisabeth Barkley, wrote “Read and Reach the Whole Child: Using Adapted/Created/Enhanced (ACE) Stories for Content Representation” published in the Spring 2009 volume of Reading Improvement.
In the fall of 2009 Dr. Paula Kohler, professor, gave a lecture “Working Together to Improve Transition Outcomes” in Kalamazoo. The presentation highlighted the main challenges people with special needs face in becoming active and full members of society and gave possible solutions for overcoming such challenges.