College of Education Special Education http://education.illinois.edu/sped/prospective/sped/frp/gaffneyj

Faculty Research Profiles: Janet Gaffney

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Special Education
270F Education Building
1310 S. 6th St. MC 708
Champaign, IL 61820USA

Professor, Special Ed

Cognitive Science of Teaching and Learning
Educational Psychology
business217 244-9291
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Research Biography

Janet S. Gaffney is a professor in the Department of Special Education with affiliate appointments in the Departments of Educational Psychology and Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Her research focuses on developing teachers' expertise to facilitate the independent literacy learning of children who are not making adequate progress. She is currently implementing a high-impact literacy intervention for adolescents with significant difficulties in reading and writing informational text in a collaborative, district-wide model (Gaffney, Methven, & Bagdasarian, 2002). She has authored two books and numerous articles and chapters, including "Trends in Reading Research in the United States" with Richard C. Anderson in the Handbook of Reading Research, Vol. III (2000). She is a past recipient of the Alan C. Purves Research Award of the National Council for Teachers in English and was appointed an Associate in the Center for Advanced Study at the University. She was the 2007 recipient of the Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award for the College of Education and the 2008 recipient of the UIUC Campus Award for Excellence in Graduate and Professional Teaching.

Degrees

  • Ph.D., Special Education, Arizona State University, 1984
  • M.Ed., Special Education, University of Missouri-Columbia, 1975
  • B.A., English, Saint Louis University, 1971

Key Professional Appointments

  • Adjunct, Educational Psychology, University of Illinois, 2004--
  • Affiliate, Curriculum & Instruction, University of Illinois, 2002--
  • Associate Professor, Special Education, University of Illinois, 1994--
  • Senior Researcher, Center for the Study of Reading, University of Illinois, 1988--
  • Assistant Professor, Special Education, University of Illinois, 1988-1994
  • Visiting Assistant Professor, Special Education, University of Illinois, 1987-1988
  • Assistant Professor, Special Education, University of Mississippi, 1984-1987

Activities & Honors

  • Campus Award for Excellence in Graduate and Professional Teaching, Office of the Provost, 2007-2008
  • Editorial Board Member, Reading Research Quarterly, 2006-2008
  • Graduate Teaching Award, College of Education, 2006-2007
  • Faculty Associate, Center for Advanced Study, 2004-2005
  • Recipient, Kay Meginnis Memorial Grant, 2004
  • Editorial Board Member, National Reading Conference, Journal of Literacy Research, 2001- present
  • Alan C. Purves Research Award, National Council of Teachers of English, 1999-2000
  • Undergraduate Teaching Award, College of Education, 1998-1999
  • Illinois Faculty Fellow in Service Learning, Illinois Campus Compact for Community Service, 1998-1999
  • Board of Reviewers, Board of Reviewers, Teacher Education and Special Education Journal, 1984- present

Grants

  • Principal Investigator, Availability and Use of Informational Texts in Second, Third, and Fourth Grade Classrooms, Campus Research Board, 2006
  • Principal Investigator, Literacy Leadership & Curricular Access for All, Quincy Public School District # 172, 2006
  • Co-Principal Investigator, Preparing Leaders in Access by Design (PLAD), U.S. Department of Education, 2006
  • Principal Investigator, Project Jump Start: The Effects of Individual Tutoring on Preschool Children's Literacy Learning, Campus Research Board, 2005
  • Senior Personnel, Effects of Group & Individual Interventions on Emerging Literacy Skills in Preschoolers, U.S. Department of Education, 2003
  • Principal Investigator, Grade Retention and Special Education: Double Jeopardy, Campus Research Board, 2003
  • Principal Investigator, Teaching for Access to Standards and Curriculum - Project TASC, U.S. Department of Education, 2000

Selected Publications

  • Gaffney, J. S., Ostrosky, M., & Hemmeter, M. L. (2008). Books as natural support for young children's literacy learning. Young Children. 63 (4), 87-93.
  • March, E. Z., & Gaffney, J. S. (in press). Relational identities of students, families, and educators: Shaping educational pathways. Remedial and Special Education.
  • Wu, X., Anderson, R. C., Li, W., Shu, H., Jiang, W., Chen, X., Packard, J., & Gaffney, J. S. (in press). Morphological awareness and Chinese children’s literacy development: An intervention study. Scientific Studies in Reading.
  • Ostrosky, M. M., Gaffney, J. S., & Thomas, D. V. (2006). The interplay between literacy and relationships in early childhood settings. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 22(2), 173-191.
  • Packard, J., Chen, X., Li, W., Wu, X., Gaffney, J. S., Li, H., & Anderson, R. C. (2006). Explicit instruction in orthographic structure and word morphology helps Chinese children learn to write characters. Reading and Writing, 19(5), 457-487. 

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