AuthorTalk: Powered by Sopris Learning

Nancy Hennessy, M.Ed., LDT-C, is an educational consultant, keynote speaker, and former teacher and administrator. She is a past president of the International Dyslexia Association and received IDA’s Margaret Rawson Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.

Lucy Hart Paulson, Dr. Paulson, Ed.D., CCC-SLP, is a literacy specialist with years of experience working with young children and their families in public school, Head Start, private, and university settings.

Kelly Powell-Smith, As the lead author of both DIBELS® Next Survey and DIBELS Deep, Dr. Kelly Powell-Smith is responsible for enormous strides in early literacy assessment in the past few years.Dr. Powell-Smith has provided training in formative assessment and academic interventions in 16 states and Canada.

Judi Dodson, is the author of 50 Nifty Activities, 50 Nifty Speaking and Listening Activities, and the Literacy Intervention Toolkit. She served for 20 years as a special education teacher and as an educational consultant performing diagnostic assessment of learning disabilities.

Pati Montgomery and Melody Ilk, have led the implementation of successful school-wide reading initiatives—and want to share how they did it with other principals looking to boost reading achievement across the board.

Jeffrey Sprague and Annemieke Golly, Renowned behavior experts Jeffrey Sprague and Annemieke Golly both have years of experience working with students who exhibit challenging behaviors. They began collaborating on Best Behavior after literally running into each other in the hall.

Stephanie Gottwald, a researcher who has been instrumental in the development of RAVE-O, talks about how the work of neuroscientist Dr. Maryanne Wolf at Tufts University grew into a playful cast of whimsical characters.

DDan Habib is the Filmmaker in Residence at the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire.

Dr. Carol Tolman,a LETRS coauthor and trainer with 25 years of classroom and clinical teaching experience in public schools.

Roland Good, Ph.D. and Ruth Kaminski, Ph.D, are the creators of the DIBELS Assessment tool. DIBELS Next measures are quick and efficient measures that indicate if a student is on track for reading success.

Louisa C. Moats, Ed.D., is the creator of LETRS®(Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling). A series of in-person or online courses based on 12 core modules, LETRS is the gold standard in professional development for educators who understand that “teaching reading IS rocket science”

Maryanne Wolf, Ed.D., Internationally recognized teacher, researcher, and author of over 130 publications, Dr. Maryanne Wolf has dedicated her entire professional career to children with learning challenges. Rigorously tested in federal studies, her break-through work, RAVE-O, is now available for use in schools around the country.

Anita L. Archer, Ph.D., recipient of eight Outstanding Educator awards, has taught elementary and middle school students and has been a faculty member at San Diego State University, the University of Washington, and the University of Oregon. Currently, she serves as an educational consultant to school districts on effective instruction, classroom management, language arts instruction, and study skills instruction. She is a nationally known presenter and has authored numerous curriculum materials, chapters, books, and training materials. Among her works are the acclaimed REWARDS reading program and the Tough Kid Video Series

Ray Beck, Ed.D., is a consultant and Sopris author. As a school psychologist and former Director of Special Education in Great Falls, Montana, Beck directed the development of two U.S. Department of Education validated programs, Project RIDE (Responding to Individual Differences in Education) and Basic Skill Builders. Beck conducts training and/or workshops on three Sopris publications: RIDE; Basic Skill Builders; and One-Minute Academic Functional Assessment: Can’t Do It . . . or Won’t Do It?

Susan Ebbers, doctoral candidate, is a literacy expert and publisher of Vocabulogic, an award-winning, research-based education blog. Her research focus includes morphological awareness, vocabulary growth, measurement design, and the relationships between interest level and reading comprehension. In addition to serving as a K–8 principal and preschool director, Ebbers has taught primary and secondary grades and was awarded for her contributions to literacy.