Peter Johnston, Professor, UAlbany Dept. of Reading

Peter Johnston earned his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. He has worked as an elementary classroom teacher and as a reading teacher, and he currently serves on the editorial boards of: Reading Research Quarterly, Journal of Literacy Research, Elementary School Journal, and Literacy, Teaching and Learning. He has published eight books and numerous articles in journals such as Reading Research Quarterly, Journal of Literacy Research, Elementary School Journal, Reading Teacher, and Harvard Educational Review. His most recent books are Choice Words: How Our Language Affects Children’s Learning, Critical Literacy/Critical Teaching: Tools for Preparing Responsive Teachers (with UAlbany’s Cheryl Dozier & Rebecca Rogers), Reading to Learn (with Richard Allington), and Running Records: A Self-tutoring Guide, and Knowing Literacy. He chaired the International Reading Association and National Council of Teachers of English Joint Task Force on Assessment that produced the position monograph Standards for the Assessment of Reading and Writing. The International Reading Association awarded him the Outstanding Dissertation award in 1981, the Albert J. Harris Award in 1987 for his contribution to the understanding of reading disability, and recently inducted him into the Reading Hall of Fame.

His current work investigates literacy assessment, the consequences of teaching practices for the kind of literacy children acquire, how teachers and students build productive learning communities, and the process of building critical inquiry into literacy teacher education.

Robert P. Yagelski, Associate Professor, UAlbany Dept. of Educational Theory and Practice and Co-director, Capital District Writing Project

Robert Yagelski earned his Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Composition from Ohio State University. He teaches courses in composition theory and pedagogy, critical pedagogy, and qualitative research methods and helps prepare secondary school teachers. Professor Yagelski is also co-director of the Capital District Writing Project, a site of the National Writing Project. Previously, he directed the Writing Center at SUNY-Albany, co-directed the English Education program at Purdue University, and chaired the English Department at Vermont Academy, an independent high school. Professor Yagelski's research has focused on understanding literacy as a social activity and writing as a technology. He has studied revision in student writing and the uses of technology in writing instruction, and he has examined the role of literacy in students' lives. Recently, he has explored connections between writing, pedagogy, and issues of social justice and sustainability.

Yagelski is the author of Literacy Matters: Writing and Reading the Social Self and of numerous articles and essays about teaching writing that have appeared in College Composition and Communication, Research in the Teaching of English, English Education, Journal of Teaching Writing, and Radical Teacher, among others. He is also author of The Thomson Reader, co-author (with Robert K. Miller) of The Informed Argument, 6th edition, editor of Literacies and Technologies: A Reader for Contemporary Writers, and co-editor (with Scott Leonard) of The Relevance of English: Teaching That Matters in Students' Lives.

Richard Allington, Professor of Education at the University of Tennessee , Knoxville and President of the International Reading Association.

Previously, Richard Allington served as the Irving and Rose Fien Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of Florida , and as chair of UAlbany’s Dept. of Reading. He has served as President of the National Reading Conference and as a member of the International Reading Association (IRA) Board of Directors. He is the co-recipient of the Albert J. Harris Award from IRA in recognition of his work contributing to the understanding of reading and learning disabilities. In addition, Allington has been named to the IRA Reading Hall of Fame. He is the author several books, including Big Brother and the National Reading Curriculum and What Really Matters for Struggling Readers. He has co-authored Classrooms That Work: They Can All Read and Write and Schools That Work: Where All Children Readers an Writers both with Pat Cunningham; No Quick Fix: Rethinking Reading Program in American Elementary Schools with UAlbany’s Sean Walmsley and Reading to Learn with UAlbany’s Peter Johnston .

Jane Agee, UAlbany Dept. of Educational Theory & Practice

Jane Agee, associate professor at the University at Albany, SUNY, focuses on secondary school literacy and teacher education in the English Language Arts. She has been awarded several awards for her research: 2001 Kappa Delta Pi/American Educational Research Association Division K Research Award; Finalist, 1995 Promising Researcher Award Competition, National Council of Teachers of English; Outstanding Student Research Award, November 4, 1994, from the Georgia Educational Research Association (affiliate of AERA).

From 1997-2001, she was a project director with the National Research Center on English Learning & Achievement (CELA), working with other researchers on a national study on teacher preparation in the English Language Arts. She is currently conducting research on cognitive development in adolescence as it relates to literacy practices.

Heidi Andrade, UAlbany Division of Educational Psychology & Methodology

Heidi Goodrich Andrade is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education’s Dept. of Educational & Counseling Psychology’s Division of Educational Psychology & Methodology. She received her masters and doctoral degrees at Harvard Graduate School of Education, and spent eleven years working on a variety of teaching, research, and development initiatives at Harvard Project Zero. Her work focuses on the relationships between thinking, learning, and assessment, with an emphasis on student self-assessment. Dr. Andrade has designed thinking-centered instruction and assessments for classrooms, after-school programs, children’s television shows, and CD-ROMs. She has written numerous articles, including an award-winning article on rubrics for Educational Leadership (Goodrich, 1997), and has co-authored two books: Teaching through projects: Creating effective learning environments (1995) and Thinking connections: Learning to think and thinking to learn (1994).

Molly Fanning, Capital District Writing Project

Molly Fanning is a seventh grade language arts teacher at Farnsworth Middle School in Guilderland and has been teaching for six years. She completed the Capital District Writing Project Summer Invitational Institute and is a member of CDWP's Leadership Team.

Kelly Millet–Wilson, Professional Development Facilitator, School of Education’s Center on English Learning & Achievement (CELA)

Mrs. Millett-Wilson has served in public schools for the past twelve years where she has taught English at both the middle and high school levels. Kelly currently serves as a middle-level classroom practitioner in the Niskayuna Central School District . She is a member of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), the New York State English Council (NYSEC), the New York State Reading Association (NYSRA), and has recently completed her residence as a member of the Oxford Round Table, St. Anne’s College at the University of Oxford, England.

Kathy Nickson, Professional Development Facilitator, School of Education’s Center on English Learning & Achievement (CELA)

After teaching high school English for 27 years, Kathy joined CELA's Partnership for Literacy as a facilitator and coach. She is working with area high school teachers to help students achieve higher literacy through substantive discussion and critical thinking skills. She is also helping adapt CELA's Web Guide for high school teachers

Eija Rougle, Senior Instructional & Professional Development Facilitator, School of Education’s Center on English Learning & Achievement (CELA)

Eija Rougle, Ph.D. UAlbany, has been working with teachers of various subjects and at all levels, from kindergarten to high school, to help them improve instruction to foster higher literacy achievement for their students. Her specialty is using discussion to aid all learners in thinking deeply, making better sense of texts and th e w orld around them, and articulating their thinking in talk and in writing.

Bruce Saddler, Asst. Professor, UAlbany Div. of Special Education .

Bruce saddler completed his Ph.D. in Special Education at the University of Maryland . He is a former K-12 special education teacher. He currently teaches masters level courses in inclusion and teaching methods for special needs students, and doctoral level seminars in special education issues. His research interests are in writing, self-regulation, inclusion, and technology integration. He has published research articles in the area of writing in top-ranked journals including the Journal of Educational Psychology and the Journal of Special Education. He has received several grants to fund his research including a prestigious early career award from the US Department of Education.

Brigid Schmidt, Capital District Writing Project

Brigid Schmidt teaches seventh grade language arts at Farnsworth Middle School in Guilderland. She holds an M.S. in Reading from UAlbany’s School of Education , has presented at the New York State Reading Association conferences, and participated in the Capital District Writing Project Summer Invitational Institute. She is also a member of CDWP's Leadership Team.

Liza Schofield, Capital District Writing Project

Liza Schofield is a National Board certified teacher who spent seven years teaching kindergarten, first grade, and Reading Recovery at an urban school in the Bay Area of California. She is a member of the Leadership Team of the Capital District Writing Project. She currently teaches kindergarten at Catskill Elementary School.

Johanna Shogan, Consultant and Professional Development Facilitator, School of Education ’s Center on English Learning & Achievement (CELA)

Following a career that spanned 34 years in New York State ’s public schools teaching English Language Arts in grades 7-12, Johanna Shogan is now a consultant. She brings her expertise and experience of how students learn successfully to the workshop.

Mimi Staulters, Instructor, UAlbany Div. of Special Education

Mimi Staulters is a faculty member in the Division of Special Education. She has teaching certificates in both general and special education and was an elementary and middle school educator for thirteen years. Ms. Staulters spent seven years teaching inner city youth in Boston who had been removed from the Boston Public School system because of the severity of their behavior. She also taught special education for a number of years locally, in the Saratoga Springs City School District . Ms. Staulters is currently finishing her doctorate in Educational Psychology in the School of Education . She has interests in behavior disorders, autism spectrum disorders, and in Universal Design for Learning.

Sean Walmsley, Professor, UAlbany Dept. of Reading

A native of Great Britain , Sean Walmsley , graduated from Trinity College Dublin with his BA and MA in History, and from Harvard University with his Ed.D in Reading . He has several years teaching experience in elementary and secondary schools in both England and the U.S. Since joining the UAlbany faculty, he has assumed a major role in broadening the department's mission to encompass all the language arts, and has made the integration of language arts a primary teaching and research focus. Dr. Walmsley became Chair of the Reading Department in 2001.

He is co-author of Teaching Kindergarten: A Developmentally-Appropriate Approach (Heinemann, 1992), author of Children Exploring Their World: Theme Teaching in Elementary School (Heinemann, 1994), co-editor of No Quick Fix: Rethinking Literacy Programs in America's Elementary Schools (TC Press/IRA, 1995), co-author of Kindergarten: Ready or Not? (Heinemann, 1996) and Teaching with Favorite Marc Brown Books (Scholastic, 1998). He is currently completing a book about reforming language arts, K-12, based on two decades working with school districts primarily in New York State, helping them to rethink their K-12 approach to language arts. His latest research project involves examining all the literacy assessments used with children from birth to kindergarten

Alicia Wein, Capital District Writing Project

Alicia Wein has been an English teacher for nine years. Currently, she is teaching a variety of academic levels at Guilderland High School , including an alternative program for at-risk students and a course in the Syracuse University college-equivalency program. She has completed the Capital District Writing Project summer invitational institute and is a member of CDWP's Leadership Team. In 2004 she was named a Teacher of Excellence by the New York State English Council.