Program Foundations

Dr. Diane August is a Research Professor at the University of Houston and a principal at D. August and Associates. Dr. August is currently a co-principal investigator at the Center for the Success of English Learners, one of two federally funded centers focused on improving educational outcomes for secondary-level English learners. Dr. Diane August brings 40 years of experience in the many aspects of educating language-minority children. Her areas of expertise include policy, research, and technical assistance related to the education of preschool and school-age second-language learners. Dr. August has also worked as a teacher, school administrator, legislative assistant, Grants Officer for the Carnegie Corporation, and Director of Education for the Children's Defense Fund. She received her Ph.D. in education and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in psychology at Stanford University.

Jana Echevarría, Ph.D., is Professor Emerita at California State University, Long Beach where she was selected as Outstanding Professor. Prior to receiving her Ph.D. from UCLA, she taught in general education, special education, ESL, and bilingual programs. A creator of the SIOP Model, her research and publications focus on effective instruction for multilingual learners, including those with learning disabilities. She has presented her research across the U.S. and internationally including Oxford University (England), Wits University (South Africa), Harvard University (U.S.), Stanford University (U.S.), University of Barcelona (Spain) and South East Europe University (Macedonia) where she was a Fulbright Specialist. Dr. Echevarria was inducted into the California Reading Hall of Fame in 2016 and has served as an expert on English learners for the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division.

Dr. Douglas Fisher is Professor and Chair of Educational Leadership at San Diego State University and a leader at Health Sciences High & Middle College having been an early intervention teacher and elementary school educator. He is the recipient of an International Reading Association William S. Grey citation of merit, an Exemplary Leader award from the Conference on English Leadership of NCTE, as well as a Christa McAuliffe award for excellence in teacher education. He has published numerous articles on reading and literacy, differentiated instruction, and curriculum design as well as books, such as “The Teaching Reading Playbook.”

Steve Graham is a Regents and the Warner Professor in the Division of Leadership and Innovation in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University. For 42 years, he has studied how writing develops, how to teach it effectively, and how writing can be used to support reading and learning. His research involves typically developing writers and students with special needs in both elementary and secondary schools, with much of the learning occurring in classrooms in urban schools. Graham is the former editor of Exceptional Children, Contemporary Educational Psychology, Journal of Writing Research, Focus on Exceptional Children, and Journal of Educational Psychology. He is the co-author of the "Handbook of Writing Research," "Handbook of Learning Disabilities," "APA Handbook of Educational Psychology," "Writing Better," "Powerful Writing Strategies for All Students," and "Making the Writing Process Work." He is also the author of three influential Carnegie Corporation reports: Writing Next, Writing to Read, and Informing Writing

Dr. Karen Harris has been an educator for 50 years, first teaching 4th grade in a coal mining community in West Virginia and then teaching special education. She developed the Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) model of instruction, deemed an evidence-based practice by the What Works Clearinghouse for teaching writing. SRSD instruction is also validated for teaching close reading for informative and persuasive writing. She is a former editor of the Journal of Educational Psychology and has authored 15 books/handbooks. She is lead author of "Powerful Writing Strategies for All Students" and lead editor of the APA Educational Psychology Handbook. She has published more than 250 peer-reviewed articles and chapters for teachers and researchers and has served on multiple panels and committees.

Jan Hasbrouck, Ph.D., is a leading researcher, educational consultant, and author who works with schools in the U.S. and internationally. Dr. Hasbrouck worked as a reading specialist and coach for 15 years and later became a professor. Her research in reading fluency, academic assessment and interventions, and instructional coaching has been widely published. She is the author and coauthor of several books, curriculum materials, and assessment tools. Dr. Hasbrouck was the 2024 recipient of the Samuel Torrey Orton Award from the International Dyslexia Association. She continues to collaborate with researchers on projects related to reading assessment and intervention and enjoys volunteering at her grandson’s K–8 school in Seattle. 

Jeannette Mancilla-Martinez is an Associate Professor in the Special Education Department, as well as Associate Dean of Graduate Education for Peabody College. She holds an M.Ed. and Ed.D. in language and literacy from Harvard University, as well as a B.A. in liberal studies with a concentration in English and Spanish from Mount Saint Mary's College. She is a 2013 National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow, a 2013 Hellman Fellow, and a 2017 English Language Learners Policy Fellow. Jeannette’s program of research is focused on advancing students’ language and reading comprehension outcomes, including those of students from linguistically diverse and low-income homes. The studies she is engaged in build on her earlier research in reading development and focus on the central role of supporting students’ language comprehension to mitigate later reading comprehension difficulties. Her most recent work examines the intersection of language and special education status. Jeannette was appointed to the National Assessment of Education Progress Standing Committee on Reading in 2017 and serves on the Early Literacy Advisory Council for the Tennessee Department of Education.

Dr. Michelle H. Martin is the Beverly Cleary Endowed Professor for Children and Youth Services in the Information School at the University of Washington and from 2011–2016 was the inaugural Augusta Baker Endowed Chair in Childhood Literacy at the University of South Carolina. She published "Brown Gold: Milestones of African-American Children’s Picture Books, 1845–2002" (Routledge, 2004) and "Song of the Land: Celebrating the Works of Mildred D. Taylor" (University Press of Mississippi, 2025). She’s also the co-founder, with Dr. Rachelle D. Washington, of Read-a-Rama, a non-profit that uses children’s books as the springboard for year-round and summer camp programming.

Katie Pace Miles, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Advanced Certificates in Reading Science at Brooklyn College, City University of New York (CUNY). Dr. Miles’s research interests include orthographic mapping, high frequency word learning, reading interventions, high-impact tutoring, and literacy instruction that is both developmentally appropriate and grounded in the science of reading. She is the author of "Reading Ready,” "Reading Ready for Whole Phonics,” and "Making Words Stick," and she is the academic advisor for Reading Go. Dr. Miles is the co-founder and principal investigator of CUNY Reading Corps, which improves preservice teacher training and provides free high impact tutoring to over 2,300 historically underserved NYC students per year. Dr. Miles is also the founder of a nonprofit, The Reading Institute, which expands access to structured literacy tutoring.

Dr. Timothy Shanahan is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago where he is Founding Director of the UIC Center for Literacy. He operates a popular website for educators, www.shanahanonliteracy.com, and his blogs are carried regularly on Reading Rockets. He was Director of Reading for Chicago Public Schools and served as Visiting Research Professor at Queens University, Belfast, Northern Ireland. He is the author/editor of more than 300 publications and books. His research emphasizes the connections between learning to read and learning to write, literacy in the disciplines, and improvement of reading achievement. Dr. Shanahan served on the Advisory Board of the National Institute for Literacy and is a past president of the International Literacy Association. He was inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame in 2007. 

Tanya S. Wright is a former kindergarten teacher whose research and teaching focus on curriculum and instruction in early literacy during the early childhood and elementary school years. Her research examines instructional practices that promote oral language, vocabulary, and knowledge development for young children. Wright is co-author of several books for teachers and parents including, "A Teacher’s Guide to Vocabulary Development Across the Day: Grades K–3" (Heinemann) and "Literacy Learning for Infants, Toddlers, & Preschoolers: Key Practices for Educators" (NAEYC). Her work has been published in journals such as American Educator, The Elementary School Journal, The Reading Teacher, Reading and Writing, Reading Research Quarterly, Science and Children, and the Journal of Literacy Research. Wright’s research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Institute of Education Sciences, the Spencer Foundation, and Open SciEd.