Episode 20

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Published on:

26th Sep 2025

S02E09 (20). Janice Almasi, Ph.D.

Dr. Almasi joined the faculty of the University of Kentucky in 2004 and is the Carol Lee Robertson Endowed Professor of Literacy Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. She teaches courses in literacy research and theory and research design. Her career began as an elementary school teacher and literacy specialist in Maryland.

Dr. Almasi earned her Ph.D. and M.Ed. in literacy education at the University of Maryland and her B. S. in Education from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Following her graduate work, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Learning Research and Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh. She was the recipient of the International Reading Association’s Outstanding Dissertation of the Year Award in 1994 and the National Reading Conference’s Outstanding Student Research Award in 1993.

Her pedagogical and research endeavors have critically examined the contexts in which children make sense of text, particularly in peer discussion environments. Her research has also examined comprehension and the strategic processing that occurs while children read. She is currently a co-principal investigator on a grant funded by the U. S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, in which she is helping design a narrative comprehension intervention to assist third graders who struggle to comprehend, and who are at-risk for ADHD.

She has published several books including Teaching Strategic Processes in Reading, now in its second edition. and her research has been published in journals such as: Reading Research Quarterly, Journal of Educational Psychology, Journal of Educational Research, Journal of Literacy Research, Elementary School Journal, Educational Psychologist, and Reading Psychology. She has served as an elected member of the Board of Directors of the International Reading Association (2008-2011) and the Literacy Research Association (2008-2011). She is currently the President-Elect of the Literacy Research Association and served as President in 2015.

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Margaret Vaughn

Margaret Vaughn, PhD. is a professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Washington State University. As a literacy researcher and former classroom educator, she recognizes the valuable role of teacher input and decision making in policy and practice and supports efforts to develop equity-focused learning environments. She is an advocate for student agency and works both nationally and internationally to discuss the role of student agency in learning environments. She is the recipient of several awards including the American Educational Research Association’s Review of Research Award as well as the Association of Teacher Educator’s Distinguished Research in Teacher Education and is a US Fulbright Specialist. Her award-winning research addresses issues of teacher practice and contemporary educational issues. She has published numerous articles on developing agentic focused literacy practices, adaptive instruction, and teacher visioning as well as books such as, Accelerating Learning Recovery for All Students: Core Principles for Getting Literacy Growth Back on Track (Guilford Press), Teaching with Children’s Literature: Theory to Practice (Guilford Press), Student Agency: Honoring Student Voice in the Curriculum (Teachers College Press), Overcoming Reading Challenges: Kindergarten through Middle School and co-editor of Principles of Effective Literacy Instruction, Grades K-5 (Guilford Press).