Keynote Speakers

Concurrent Speakers

Ohio-Based Project/Resource Speakers

Ohio Authors

Dr. Tim Best leads MATRIX Learning, a federal Star Schools grant with partners in California, Kansas, New Mexico, and Ohio for the Ohio Board of Regents. MATRIX is developing and field-testing games and simulations designed to help underperforming middle school students in math and reading. He recently directed catalystOHIO, a collaboration of fifty universities in Ohio that designed and delivered professional development in technology to more than 2,500 professors in Ohio’s public and private institutions of higher education. Prior to his work with the Ohio Board of Regents, Best established Ohio SchoolNet, a state agency charged with distributing over $800 million for educational technology to Ohio’s schools. In that capacity, he developed technology strategy and policy for the state of Ohio, examined implementation issues regarding technology, and provided leadership in executing service offerings and products that focused on technology and learning for Ohio schools. He was the first executive director of the Center for Leadership in Education, a Cleveland-based foundation involved in school change. Best has also served as a researcher with the Coalition of Essential Schools at Brown University and as the director for advanced development at Fitch, Inc., a London-based design consultancy.

Dr. Nell Duke is an associate professor of teacher education and educational psychology, an affiliate of the program in school psychology, and codirector of the Literacy Achievement Research Center at Michigan State University. Her work focuses on early literacy development, particularly among children living in poverty. Her areas of expertise include development of informational literacies in young children, comprehension development and instruction in early schooling, and issues of equity in literacy education. Duke is the recipient of the International Reading Association Outstanding Dissertation Award, the National Council of Teachers of English Promising Researcher Award, the International Reading Association Dina Feitelson Research Award, and the National Reading Conference Early Career Achievement Award. She is coauthor of the books Reading and Writing Informational Text in the Primary Grades: Research-Based Practices, Literacy and the Youngest Learner: Best Practices for Educators of Children from Birth to Five, and Beyond Bedtime Stories: A Parent’s Guide to Promoting Reading, Writing, and Other Literacy Skills from Birth to 5; and she is coeditor of the book Literacy Research Methodologies. Duke teaches preservice, in-service, and doctoral courses in literacy education at Michigan State, speaks and consults widely on literacy education, and is an active member of several literacy-related organizations.

Dr. Judith Irvin is a professor at Florida State University and executive director of the National Literacy Project. She teaches courses in curriculum, educational leadership, and instructional leadership and coordinates the doctoral program for the Educational Leadership/Administration. Her area of expertise is literacy and learning for adolescents, and she has authored numerous books, articles, and chapters on leadership and literacy for adolescents, including Taking Action: An Implementation Guide for School Leaders, Reading and the High School Student: Strategies to Enhance Literacy, and Strategies for Enhancing Literacy and Learning in Middle School Content Area Classrooms. Irvin serves as a consultant and speaker for school systems and professional organizations throughout the nation. She was a member of the Commission on Adolescent Literacy for the International Reading Association and served on the Board of the National Middle School Association as Chair of the Research Committee. She taught middle school reading and social studies for eight years.

Dr. Mel Riddile, the 2006 National High School Principal of the Year and the 2005 Virginia High School Principal of the Year, is the principal of T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia. At the time of the awards, he was the principal of J.E.B. Stuart High School in Falls Church, Virginia. Stuart High School faced all the factors that would place a school at risk, including high poverty and mobility and a large number of second-language students. During the last nine years of his tenure at Stuart, Riddile and his staff achieved remarkable results. Stuart was the focus of a September 2001 National Geographic article, “A High School Melting Pot”; one of twelve 2003 “50-50-90-90” Finalists; one of the first group of six Breakthrough High Schools in 2004 identified by the National Association of Secondary Principals (NASSP); an ICLE Model School 2004 and 2005; and recipient of the International Baccalaureate of North America Inspiration Award in 2004. Stuart High School has been featured in NASSP publications including Breaking Ranks II and Creating a Culture of Literacy.

Debbie Diller has been an educator for over thirty years and has taught preK through tenth grade in public schools. Her experience ranges from being a classroom teacher to working as a Title I reading specialist to serving as a literacy coach, as well as being a national consultant and author. She is the author of Literacy Work Stations, Practice with Purpose, Making the Most of Small Groups, and Beyond the Names Chart. Her new book, Spaces & Places: Designing Classrooms for Literacy, will be released in July 2008. She has created several video series on literacy work stations and small-group instruction. Diller spends time in classrooms every week and uses her strong understandings of child development and literacy development to address the differentiated needs of all students in her work with teachers and administrators. She builds upon current literacy research and theory to provide practical, realistic applications in today’s classrooms.

Dr. Nell Duke is an associate professor of teacher education and educational psychology, an affiliate of the program in school psychology, and codirector of the Literacy Achievement Research Center at Michigan State University. Her work focuses on early literacy development, particularly among children living in poverty. Her areas of expertise include development of informational literacies in young children, comprehension development and instruction in early schooling, and issues of equity in literacy education. Duke is the recipient of the International Reading Association Outstanding Dissertation Award, the National Council of Teachers of English Promising Researcher Award, the International Reading Association Dina Feitelson Research Award, and the National Reading Conference Early Career Achievement Award. She is coauthor of the books Reading and Writing Informational Text in the Primary Grades: Research-Based Practices, Literacy and the Youngest Learner: Best Practices for Educators of Children from Birth to Five, and Beyond Bedtime Stories: A Parent’s Guide to Promoting Reading, Writing, and Other Literacy Skills from Birth to 5; and she is coeditor of the book Literacy Research Methodologies. Duke teaches preservice, in-service, and doctoral courses in literacy education at Michigan State, speaks and consults widely on literacy education, and is an active member of several literacy-related organizations.

Dr. Mary Jo Fresch is a professor at Ohio State University at Marion. She teaches graduate literacy and children's literature courses in the School of Teaching and Learning. She began her teaching career as a third grade teacher in Kent, Ohio. Fresch completed her master's degree as a reading specialist at the University of Akron. She taught adult literacy at the University of Akron and in the teacher education program at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. After completing her doctorate in reading, language, and literature at Ohio State, Fresch moved to Melbourne, Australia, where she taught for three years in teacher education programs at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and Deakin University. She joined the faculty at Ohio State at Marion in 1995. Her research focus is the developmental aspects of becoming a speller and their relationship to teaching and learning. She has published a number of articles, books, and classroom materials. Her articles have appeared in The Reading Teacher, Reading Online, Language Arts, Journal of Literacy Research, Reading and Writing Quarterly, Reading Psychology, and several International Reading Association state journals. She recently edited An Essential History of Current Reading Practices and is coauthor of Teaching and Assessing Spelling, The Spelling List and Word Study Resource Book, and a grades 1 through 6 classroom spelling series, Spelling for Writers.

Dr. Sara Kajder is an assistant professor of English education at Virginia Tech and a recipient of the National Technology Leadership Fellowship. Her teaching has centered on working with her middle and high school students’ out-of-school literacies—from webquests (in the early days of teaching with the web), to blogs and digital storytelling tools, to web 2.0 tools like twitter, wikis, and podcasts. Kajder is a nationally known speaker and consultant, whose work includes over forty national and international conference presentations, sixteen published articles, five book chapters, and the books Bringing the Outside In and The Tech Savvy English Classroom. Kajder continues to explore uses of emergent technologies in developing readers and writers at the secondary levels, as well as teachers’ practices in using these tools to amplify student learning.

Dr. Joan Kenney’s professional career has encompassed a wide variety of experiences in the field of mathematics. She has worked as a research scientist, specializing in operations analysis and risk management; taught mathematics at the secondary and college level; and performed task modeling and pedagogical intervention in elementary and middle school classrooms. Kenney served as the national evaluator for the NSF-sponsored Assessment Community of Teachers and Connecting with Mathematics projects, the Instructional Leadership Academy sponsored by the Council for Basic Education, and the Digi-Block program. She has delivered keynote addresses at several national and international conferences and has written extensively about mathematics education reform and assessment. Kenney recently retired from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where for ten years she was the project coordinator and codirector of the Balanced Assessment Program. During that time, she was involved in assessment task design, student performance evaluation, and outreach to community stakeholders; she also served on the Mathematics Task Force of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education and on the original design committee for the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS). She continues to consult with school districts on issues of mathematics curriculum and classroom practice and to provide professional development for teachers and administrators in the areas of mathematics content and assessment. Recent books include Literacy Strategies for Improving Mathematics Instruction and Balanced Mathematics Assessment in Primary and Elementary Grades.

Dr. Maureen McLaughlin is a professor of reading education at East Stroudsburg State University of Pennsylvania and a member of the Board of Directors of the International Reading Association. She earned her doctorate at Boston University in reading and language development. Prior to her tenure at East Stroudsburg State University, McLaughlin spent fifteen years as a classroom teacher, reading specialist, and department chair in a public school system. She has authored numerous publications, including Research-Based Reading Lessons in Grades 4-6: Word Study, Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension; Research-Based Reading Lessons in Grades K–3: Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension; Critical Literacy: Enhancing Students’ Comprehension of Text; Guided Comprehension in the Primary Grades; Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8; and Guided Comprehension in Action: Lessons for Grades 3-8. She is currently writing a content-area textbook entitled Content Area Literacies: Teaching and Learning in the 21^st Century. A frequent speaker at international, national, and state conferences, McLaughlin is a consultant to school districts and universities throughout North America and Europe.

Dr. Evangeline Newton is a professor of literacy education and the director of the Center for Literacy at the University of Akron. She teaches literacy methods courses and professional development workshops to elementary and middle school teachers in Ohio school districts. She also chairs the Reading Review Board of the Ohio Resource Center for Mathematics, Science, and Reading. Newton, along with Tim Rasinski, Nancy Padak, and Rick M. Newton, coauthored Building Vocabulary from Word Roots (Levels 3-8), a curriculum series for elementary and middle school students. This fall the series will add grades 1, 2, and 9. Newton has also coauthored two professional development books on vocabulary, Evidence-Based Instruction in Reading: A Professional Development Guide to Vocabulary and Greek and Latin Roots: Keys to Building Vocabulary. Newton serves on the Editorial Review Board of The Reading Teacher and was a coeditor of The Ohio Reading Teacher. As a participant in IRA’s Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking project, she taught workshops for teachers and Peace Corps volunteers in Armenia. A former St. Louis public school teacher, Newton holds a B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis, an M.A.T. from Webster University, and a Ph.D. from Kent State University.

Dr. Nancy Padak is a Distinguished Professor of Education at Kent State University, where she is the principal investigator for the Ohio Literacy Resource Center, directs the Reading and Writing Center, and teaches graduate courses in literacy education. Before coming to Kent State in 1985, she was a classroom teacher and language arts/reading/Title I coordinator for School District U-46 in Illinois. Her scholarly interests include family literacy, ways to work with struggling readers, and school reform issues related to literacy. She has written or edited 23 books, more than 150 chapters in books and scholarly articles, and several instructional series for children and young adults. She is a past president of the College Reading Association and a former editor of The Reading Teacher and the Journal of Literacy Research.

Carol Price has been a preschool teacher and director, a kindergarten and first grade teacher, an elementary principal, and a K-12 language arts coordinator. She has presented at numerous state and national conferences and works as a literacy consultant with school districts and preschools. Price currently writes an early childhood book review column for the Ohio Resource Center. She is also the coauthor of Kindergarten Teacher’s Month-by-Month Activities Program.

Dr. Mel Riddile, the 2006 National High School Principal of the Year and the 2005 Virginia High School Principal of the Year, is the principal of T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia. At the time of the awards, he was the principal of J.E.B. Stuart High School in Falls Church, Virginia. Stuart High School faced all the factors that would place a school at risk, including high poverty and mobility and a large number of second-language students. During the last nine years of his tenure at Stuart, Riddile and his staff achieved remarkable results. Stuart was the focus of a September 2001 National Geographic article, “A High School Melting Pot”; one of twelve 2003 “50-50-90-90” Finalists; one of the first group of six Breakthrough High Schools in 2004 identified by the National Association of Secondary Principals (NASSP); an ICLE Model School 2004 and 2005; and recipient of the International Baccalaureate of North America Inspiration Award in 2004. Stuart High School has been featured in NASSP publications including Breaking Ranks II and Creating a Culture of Literacy.

Franki Sibberson is an intermediate multiage teacher at Albert Chapman Elementary School in Dublin, Ohio. She has twenty years’ experience in education that includes classroom teaching in grades K, 1, 3, 4, 5, intermediate multiage, and looping. She has also worked as a reading intervention specialist and a teacher of special assignment in literacy at the district’s central office. Thirteen of her twenty years of teaching have been in the intermediate classrooms. Sibberson also works with teachers across the country in workshops on reading in grades 3-6. She is a member of the Elementary Steering Committee for the National Council of Teachers of English and is a regular contributor to Choice Literacy, a website for literacy leaders. Sibberson and coauthor Karen Szymusiak have written Beyond Leveled Books and Still Learning to Read. Their newest book is Day-to-Day Assessment in the Reading Workshop. Sibberson also has created the classroom videos Bringing Reading to Life and Making the Most of News Magazines. Her newest video is Writers in Transition, and she is completing a video about content literacy. Sibberson and colleague Mary Lee Hahn write a blog together about children’s books as well as the professional books they are reading.

Karen Szymusiak is the principal of Glacier Ridge Elementary School in Dublin, Ohio. She has spent more than thirty years in education as a teacher, a coordinator of curriculum and staff development, and an elementary school administrator. Szymusiak is coauthor with Franki Sibberson of Beyond Leveled Books and Still Learning to Read. She also collaborated with Sibberson on the videos Bringing Reading to Life and Making the Most of News Magazines. Their most current publication is Day–to-Day Assessment in the Reading Workshop. Szymusiak has written articles for website Choice Literacy and is currently working on a video titled The Literacy Principal in Action. She has presented at national conferences and workshops on reading in the intermediate grades and leadership for literacy. She is an advocate for authentic learning, thoughtful instruction, and the creation of relationships that support literacy, learning, and teaching.

Dr. Barbara Taylor is the director of the Minnesota Center for Reading Research. Her research interests focus on early reading intervention, school-wide reading improvement, and school and teacher factors contributing to children’s success in reading. For the past eight years, she has been researching the effectiveness of the School Change in Reading Framework in high-poverty schools. This model of school change stresses reflection on and improvement of teaching through collaborative professional development and the use of data to drive the reform effort. Results indicate that the model is effective in increasing students’ reading achievement. The framework is the protocol for the Minnesota Reading First Professional Development Program that she is leading for twenty-six Reading First schools in Minnesota.

Nancy Brannon is an early childhood specialist at the Ohio Resource Center for Mathematics, Science, and Reading. She is a lifelong educator of young children. After receiving her undergraduate degree at Bowling Green State University, she taught second grade at Stockbridge Elementary School and went on to teach first grade and kindergarten in Columbus Public Schools. All total, she taught for eleven years before she and her husband, also an educator in Columbus Public Schools, retired and went back to school. Brannon completed her master’s of arts in Christian education from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and moved to Huntington, West Virginia, to serve as a children’s minister and child care director. After working with elementary and preschool children, educators, and families in the southern Ohio, eastern Kentucky, and West Virginia counties located along the Ohio River, she moved back home to Columbus to broaden the scope of her service.

Sheila Cantlebary is a reading content specialist at the Ohio Resource Center for Mathematics, Science, and Reading. She began her education career in the Columbus Public Schools. She taught middle school English, language arts, and reading for sixteen years before becoming a high school teacher in the Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow program. Sheila also worked as a district-level K-12 reading/language arts coordinator. Her professional development experience includes facilitating State Institute for Reading Instruction (SIRI) and English Language Arts Academy sessions. Cantlebary received both her bachelor's and master’s degrees in English education from Ohio State University. She is a member of the Ohio Council of Teachers of English Language Arts, the National Council of Teachers of English, and the International Reading Association.

Dr. Lisa Lenhart received a B.S. from Bowling Green State University, an M. Ed. from John Carroll University, and a Ph.D. from Kent State University. She holds a K-12 reading endorsement from the Ohio Department of Education. Lenhart joined the faculty at the University of Akron in 1999 and is now an associate professor. Prior to her tenure at the University of Akron, she was a classroom teacher in Ohio’s public schools system, teaching grades 1-3; a Title I reading teacher for three years; and an adjunct instructor at John Carroll University. She is coauthor of Reading and Learning to Read. She also coauthored one of the books in the International Reading Association’s Preschool Literacy Collection, Oral Language and Early Literacy in Preschool. Her newest book, written with Susan Neuman, Kathleen Roskos, and Tanya Wright, is Nurturing Knowledge: Building a Foundation for School Success by Linking Early Literacy to Math, Science, Art and Social Studies. Since 2003, Lenhart has been a codirector of the Reading First-Ohio Center and the director of E-Read Ohio.

Nicole Luthy is the assistant director of the Ohio Resource Center for Mathematics, Science, and Reading, as well as a reading content specialist. She began her career in education as a teacher in the Columbus Public Schools, where she served on curriculum and professional development teams. Before joining ORC, she was a reading and language arts consultant in the Ohio Department of Education with responsibility for state and federal literacy initiatives and grants. She was a member of the Ohio Literacy Campaign team and coordinated the Summer Institute for Reading Intervention program. Luthy received a bachelor's degree in English literature from Emory University and a master's degree in reading from Ohio State University, where she is currently pursuing a doctoral degree.

Jared Reitz is director of programs at the Ohio Center for Law-Related Education (OCLRE). He holds a B.S. in comprehensive social studies from Urbana University and a master’s degree in education from the University of Dayton. He taught in the Piqua City Schools for thirty years and was the district’s Teacher of the Year in 1990. In 1995, Reitz was recognized as the Ohio Council for the Social Studies’ Middle School Teacher of the Year.

Kate Strickland is the director of resources at the OCLRE. She holds a B.S. in social work from Miami University. Strickland served as a program coordinator for OCLRE’s annual conference and its Youth for Justice program prior to assuming her current position as director of resources. Before joining the staff of OCLRE, she practiced as a licensed social worker in Butler County, Ohio, and supervised the status offender mediation program at the Butler County Juvenile Court.

Lori Vargo is the assistant director of the Reading First-Ohio Center at the University of Akron. Vargo coordinates the statewide implementation of e-Read Ohio and provides professional development to Ohio's online instructors. She is a former technology coordinator and elementary school teacher.

Jaime Adoff, the son of the late Newbery Award-winning author Virginia Hamilton and renowned poet Arnold Adoff, was born in New York City but grew up in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He is the author of The Song Shoots Out of My Mouth: A Celebration of Music, which was a Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award Honor book, an IRA Notable book, A NY Public Library Book for the Teen Age, a VOYA poetry pick, and a CCB Best Book. The critically acclaimed Names Will Never Hurt Me was his first young adult novel and almost instantly became a must-have for teens around the country. His novel Jimi & Me was the 2006 recipient of the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award and received numerous other honors and accolades. Adoff’s latest YA novel, The Death of Jayson Porter, was just published in April 2008.

Chad Bender is part of the innovative Bender & Bender Imaging team that created the acclaimed illustrated children’s book Ribbit! As a set and prop maker, Bender worked alongside photographers, computer illustrators, and writers to create the content and images for the book. Located in rural Ohio, the Bender & Bender Imaging studio has produced images that have been displayed in the museums Centre Pompidou in France and the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and as well have appeared in the publications Communications Arts, Photographis, and The Art of Persuasion: A History of Advertising Photography by Robert Sobieszek.

Dr. Asma Mobin-Uddin was born and raised in the United States. Of Pakistani heritage, she grew up in a small Ohio town where there were few other Muslim families. After receiving undergraduate and medical school degrees from Ohio State University, she went on to practice pediatrics for several years until she decided to stay at home with her children while they were young. Initially, she began writing about the Muslim American experience because she had difficulty finding good books in this area to read to her children. Mobin-Uddin’s first book, My Name is Bilal, won the 2006 Paterson Prize for Books for Young People (Grades 4-6 category), among other honors. Her most recent book is The Best Eid Ever. She is also a columnist whose commentary on Islamic-related issues has appeared nationally as well as in the Columbus Dispatch, and she actively works in community organizations to promote cross-cultural understanding and interfaith dialogue.

Shelley Pearsall, an Ohio native, has enjoyed writing and history since childhood. Her first novel, Trouble Don't Last, was published in 2002. It received the 2003 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction among other honors. Her second novel, Crooked River, was named a Junior Library Guild selection in 2005. Pearsall’s newest novel, All of the Above, is an ALA Notable book for 2007. Before writing Trouble Don't Last, she was a public school teacher and a museum historian. In her spare time, she wrote historical scripts and short stories for Cleveland-area museums. Pearsall was the recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Fellowship in Writing in 1999 and was named the 2005 Children's Writer-in-Residence for the James Thurber House.