Institute Fellows and Researchers

Institute Director

Leticia Martinez

Dr. Leticia Martinez earned her doctorate in curriculum and instruction, with an emphasis on language and literacy studies, from The University of Texas at Austin in 2006. Martinez's professional experience includes teaching at the elementary, secondary, and university levels. She has worked closely with schools and teachers to coordinate federally funded research for the last 7 years. Her research focuses on supporting English language learners in schools. Currently, she is the director of the Texas Institute for the Acquisition of Language for Learning, funded by the Texas Education Agency. The institute is a support center for Texas secondary schools and their English as a second language programs. Her research interests include adolescent English language learners, content area literacy, and qualitative research of Latina youth in schools.

Institute Fellows

David Francis

Dr. David J. Francis is a Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Houston, where he also serves as director of the Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics and co-director of the Texas Learning and Computation Center. Francis is currently chairman of the Executive Board of the Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology and a fellow of Division 5 (Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics) of the American Psychology Association. His areas of quantitative interest include modeling of individual growth, multilevel and mixture modeling, structural equation modeling, item response theory, and exploratory data analysis. He has collaborated in research on reading and reading disabilities, attention problems, developmental consequences of brain injuries and birth defects, and adolescent alcohol abuse. Francis obtained his doctoral degree in clinical neuropsychology from the University of Houston in 1985 with a specialization in quantitative methods.

Elfrieda Hiebert

Dr. Elfrieda “Freddy” H. Hiebert is president and chief executive officer of TextProject. Hiebert received her Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She has worked in the field of early reading acquisition for 40 years, first as a teacher’s aide and teacher of primary-level students in California and, subsequently, as a teacher educator and researcher at the universities of Kentucky, Colorado-Boulder, Michigan, and California-Berkeley. Her research addresses ways to support students who depend on schools to become literate. Her particular interests include how to foster fluency, vocabulary, and knowledge through appropriate texts. Hiebert’s research has been published in numerous scholarly journals. She has also authored or edited nine books, the most recent being Revisiting Silent Reading: New Directions for Teachers and Researchers (International Reading Association; with D. Ray Reutzel). Through documents such as Becoming a Nation of Readers (Center for the Study of Reading, 1985) and Every Child a Reader (Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement, 1999), she has contributed to making research accessible to educators. Hiebert’s model of accessible texts for beginning and struggling readers, TExT, has been used to develop several reading programs that are widely used in schools. She is the 2008 recipient of the William S. Gray Citation of Merit, awarded by the International Reading Association, and is a member of the Reading Hall of Fame.

Deborah Short

Dr. Deborah J. Short is a senior research associate affiliated with the Center for Applied Linguistics, a nonprofit organization for language education research, policy, and practice in Washington, DC. Short co-developed the research-validated SIOP Model for sheltered instruction and has directed quasi-experimental and experimental studies on English language learners funded by the Carnegie Corporation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Education. She chaired an expert panel on adolescent English language learner literacy and co-authored the policy report: Double the Work. She recently completed a 3-year study of newcomer programs for middle and high school English language learners, culminating in the report: Helping Newcomer Students Succeed in Secondary Schools and Beyond. As director of Academic Language Research and Training, a consulting group, Short works with districts in the United States and abroad on professional development and curriculum design for sheltered instruction and academic literacy. She has authored numerous publications, including books on the SIOP Model and National Geographic Learning's ESL series: Edge, Inside, Reach, High Point, and Avenues. Her research articles have appeared in TESOL Quarterly, Language Teaching Research, Journal of Educational Research, Educational Leadership, Education and Urban Society, Social Education, and Journal of Research in Education.

Principal Investigators

Colleen Reutebuch

Dr. Colleen Reutebuch has experience coordinating research projects and grants related to state- and federally funded professional development and technical assistance in early and secondary reading. Reutebuch served as an assistant professor of special education at Texas Tech University and as an adjunct in reading education at Texas State University, The University of Texas at Austin, and Our Lady of the Lake University. Currently, she directs projects aimed at improving academics through interventions targeting English learners. She taught grades 1–12, both general and special education, in San Antonio and Austin before moving into higher education. Her research interests include academic and reading interventions, reading difficulties and disabilities, and effective instructional practices to support all learners. She has served on the boards of the Texas Council for Learning Disabilities and Texas Council for Exceptional Children.

Greg Roberts

Dr. Greg Roberts is the associate director of MCPER. His bio is available through this link.

Postdoctoral Fellows

Shannon Giroir

Researchers

Kaci Bonine

Kaci Bonine serves as an assessment coordinator for MCPER. Bonine works with school districts in Austin and the surrounding area to coordinate teacher observations and research projects, including the Center for Research and Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners (CREATE) and Collaborative Strategic Reading. She earned both her undergraduate and master’s degrees in social work from The University of Texas at Austin.

Vanessa Cortez

Vanessa Cortez is an instructional support specialist for the Center for Research and Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners (CREATE) project. Cortez received her undergraduate degree in early childhood education and her master’s in curriculum and instruction with a reading specialization. Prior to her work at MCPER, she served for 10 years in Laredo, Texas, as a bilingual teacher, campus literacy coach, and early childhood district coordinator. Her interests include response to instruction and intervention and using data to facilitate change.

Leticia Romero Grimaldo

Dr. Leticia Romero Grimaldo is project manager for the Texas Institute for the Acquisition of Language for Learning, which assists schools throughout the state with their programs of instruction for English language learners (ELLs) through technical assistance and professional development. She is also an adjunct professor for Texas State University–San Marcos, where she teaches master's-level courses in instructional supervision and professional development within the Education and Community Leadership Program. She has published manuscripts in the Journal of School Leadership and Journal of Educational Research & Policy Studies. Previously, she worked as a statewide coordinator for the Vaughn Gross Center for Reading and Language Arts at The University of Texas at Austin. In this role, she provided technical assistance to Reading First state, district, and campus educators in reading and ELL instruction and developed professional development on various topics, such as strategies for ELLs and facilitating change in schools.

Genise Henry

Genise Henry is a senior field trainer/analyst at MCPER. Henry provides technical assistance and professional development to districts that have received grant funding to support their English language learners (ELLs). She also assists districts in coordinating resources and training for their teachers, so they can implement research-based instructional strategies for ELLs. Previously, she worked for the Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners (CREATE) project, providing coaching and instructional support to middle school teachers. She has also served as a statewide coordinator at the Vaughn Gross Center for Reading and Language Arts, where she developed and delivered professional development. Her experience as a classroom teacher at both the elementary and secondary level serves as a foundation for the roles she has assumed as an instructional leader. She is currently working on her dissertation for her Ph.D. at Texas State University – San Marcos in the school improvement program, where she has also recently been named a Barbara Jackson scholar. Her research interests include educational leadership and social justice in education.

Colleen Moore

Colleen Moore has a bachelor of arts in English from Williams College and a master of arts in teaching English as a second language (ESL) from The University of Texas – Edinburg. Moore brings 12 years of professional development experience to the team, with specialties in sheltered instruction, learning strategies, technology integration, and standards-based curriculum development and assessment. She has taught ESL in middle school and adult ESL education in university language centers in the United States and Mexico. She provided training and assistance to public schools in south Texas as an education specialist at Education Service Center Region One and served educators at all levels working with students in the Migrant, Title I, and Bilingual Education programs. After leaving Region One, she implemented a technology integration grant at La Joya Independent School District in Texas and provided training on how to use technology to support English language learners. She has provided training and support at schools nationwide as a member of the SIOP Services Faculty at Pearson Education, and she has provided other consulting services to schools and districts in Texas through her company, META. She is fluent in Spanish and has a keen interest in languages and cultures from around the world.

Stephanie J. Stillman

Dr. Stephanie J. Stillman serves as the director of assessment for MCPER. Stillman works closely with school districts and teachers in Austin and the surrounding area to coordinate research related to student testing and teacher observations for several MCPER projects, including CREATE, Collaborative Strategic Reading, and a focused UT Elementary School study. Stillman earned her undergraduate degree in sociology and philosophy from Colgate University and her master’s degree in religion and philosophy from Harvard University. She earned her doctorate in religious studies with a focus on ethics and children from the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB). She is a former Teach for America High School Special Education teacher, and she has also taught at UCSB and California Polytechnic University. She is the author of the forthcoming book Remembering the Cruelest Month: The Politics of Memory in the Aftermath of the Shootings at Columbine.