Reading proficiency underpins all later learning, but, unfortunately, not all students are given equitable opportunities to learn to read. Now, in addition to providing direction for teacher preparation programs and state policymakers on how to improve reading instruction for all students, NCTQ is again convening a panel of national experts on literacy and reading instruction to develop an action guide with explicit steps that school districts can take.
Meet the Experts
Kelly Butler is the Chief Executive Officer of The Barksdale Reading Institute. Kelly spearheaded BRI’s development of The Reading Universe©, a detailed scope and sequence for training teachers on how to deliver sequential, systemic, explicit reading instruction. Ms. Butler is the author of two statewide studies and developed a subsequent statewide initiative to improve teacher preparation programs focused on early literacy instruction in Mississippi’s 15 public and private universities. A former high school teacher in the Greenwich, Connecticut Public Schools, Ms. Butler holds a BA in Special Education from The University of Alabama and an MA in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy from Harvard University.
Linda Diamond is the author of Teaching Reading Sourcebook used in university teacher preparation courses and K-12 professional development. She is president and founder of Consortium on Reaching Excellence in Education (CORE), a professional learning organization that serves schools, districts, and state agencies to improve literacy and math achievement for all students. Previously, Ms. Diamond served as a K-12 district administrator, a middle school and elementary principal, and a high school teacher.
Deborah R. Glaser, Ed.D. received her doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction with a specific focus on reading and school reform from Boise State University. During Dr. Glaser’s 40 years in education she has been a classroom and learning disability instructor and administrator, and has assisted universities with the development of research-based reading curriculum and established training and consultation programs to support the success of state and local reading initiatives. Dr. Glaser’s publications include LETRS Foundations: Introduction to Language and Literacy (coauthored with Louisa Moats), and the online reading course The Reading Teacher’s Top Ten Tools, among others.
Margaret Goldberg works in Oakland Unified, where she leads a grant-funded project dedicated to implementing evidence-based reading instruction in primary grade classrooms. Previously, she was a classroom teacher, curriculum developer, reading interventionist, and literacy coach. Ms. Goldberg is the co-founder of Right to Read Project, a group of teachers, researchers, and activists committed to the pursuit of equity through literacy.
Claude Goldenberg, Ph.D. is the Nomellini & Olivier Professor of Education, emeritus, at Stanford University. He is a former junior high and first grade teacher. Dr. Goldenberg has conducted research and published articles and books on the academic achievement of English learners, especially their literacy development.
Sally C. Grimes has provided professional development to teachers and administrators as an independent consultant in the areas of language and literacy PreK-5 for the last 25 years. She served as Admissions Director at Landmark School, taught Special Education in public schools, taught migrant Mexicans, and has done several years of diagnostic testing. She has served on several state reading committees and was a Lead Trainer for Reading First. Ms. Grimes has written and taught graduate courses. She received her Masters Degrees in Reading and in Human Development from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
R. Malatesha Joshi, Ph.D. is a Professor of Literacy Education and Educational Psychology at Texas A & M University, and the Editor of Reading and Writing and the monograph series Literacy Studies. From 1979-2002, Joshi received funding from North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to direct intentional institutes on literacy in Europe. He has about 150 publications in high-impact refereed journals and has published 21 books, most recently Reading Development and Difficulties. He has received many national and international awards such as Erasmus Mundus fellowship and New Zealand Strategic Research Fellow and has been invited as a senior research scholar to universities and agencies in various countries. In addition to being a Fellow of the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities, he has been elected as a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). In 2019, he received the award from the Association of Reading and Writing in Asia for ‘extraordinary contribution to understanding literacy around the world’. In 2020, he received the Samuel Torrey and Joan Orton award which recognizes a person or persons who have made a vital contribution to our scientific understanding of dyslexia. Dr. Joshi has also been selected as a Literacy Research Panel Honoree, International Literacy Association, 2019-2022.
Edward J. Kame’enui, Ph.D. is Dean-Knight Professor Emeritus and Founding Director of the Center on Teaching and Learning (CTL) at the University of Oregon. He is a former special education teacher. Dr. Kame’enui served as the Founding Commissioner of the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) at the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), co-authored the 1998 Reading/Language Arts K-12 Curriculum Framework for the California Department of Education, directed several national federal reading research initiatives, spoke at the White House, and served on the original advisory boards for the PBS television shows “Between the Lions” and WETA’s “Reading Rockets.”
Shaheena Khan has a background in teaching and instructional leadership across public education systems. She worked as the Chief of Equity in Ohio and has held various positions at Chicago Public Schools, ranging from classroom teacher to chief academic officer. She has a BA in English Literature, a MA in Teaching & Learning and is working towards a Doctorate’s degree in education. She is currently the Director of Education Strategy and Ventures at the Rainin Foundation in Oakland where she guides organizational investments that drive change and build equitable systems for early learners.
Louisa Moats, Ed.D. has been a teacher, psychologist, researcher, graduate school faculty member, and author of many influential scientific journal articles, books, and policy papers on the topics of reading, spelling, language, and teacher preparation. She received her doctorate in Reading and Human Development from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She was Co-Principal Investigator of the NICHD Early Interventions Project in Washington, D.C., public schools and Principal Investigator on two small business innovation research (SBIR) grants from the National Institutes of Health.
Nancy Scharff is an experienced elementary and special education teacher, currently leading a movement in Philadelphia, through Read by 4th, to transform the teacher pipeline. Philadelphia now has four area universities, with five teacher prep programs, and an in-service program, accredited by the IDA. Ms. Scharff is a previous board member, and current Academic Committee member of KIPP Philadelphia, as well as former Executive Director, and now advisor to ReadWorks. Ms. Scharff holds a Masters of Special Education from Saint Joseph’s University, one of the first university programs in PA to gain IDA accreditation.
Louise Spear-Swerling, Ph.D. is Professor Emerita at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, CT. Her research interests focus on children’s reading development and literacy difficulties, as well as teacher knowledge for reading instruction; she has presented and published widely on these topics. Dr. Spear-Swerling’s most recent book is The power of RTI and reading profiles: A blueprint for solving reading problems, published by Brookes. Dr. Spear-Swerling has prepared both general and special educators to teach reading using Structured Literacy approaches for many years.
Julie Washington, Ph.D. is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders in the College of Education and Human Development at Georgia State University (GSU) in Atlanta, GA (U.S.A.). She is also Co-Director of the Center for Research on the Challenges of Acquiring Language and Literacy, a unique Center focused on language and literacy research in high risk urban, and impaired populations. Currently, Dr. Washington’s research is focused on the intersection of literacy, language variation, and poverty. Dr. Washington directs the Georgia Learning Disabilities Research Innovation Hub funded by the National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute on Child Health and Human Development.
Kareem Weaver is a member of the Oakland NAACP Education Committee, a leader of Full and Complete Reading is a Universal Mandate (FULCRUM), and was an award-winning teacher and administrator in Oakland, California, and Columbia, South Carolina. Kareem has an undergraduate degree from Morehouse College and a master’s in Clinical-Community Psychology from the University of South Carolina.