Dr. Pamela Bell is the director of the Response to Intervention Institute. Her bio is available through this link.
Institute Fellows and Researchers
Institute Director
Pamela Bell
Principal Investigators
Sarojani S. Mohammed
Dr. Sarojani S. Mohammed holds a Ph.D. in educational psychology from The University of Texas at Austin and an undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mohammed is assistant director of MCPER and VGC. She is also MCPER’s director of web-based content and dissemination, associate director of program evaluation, and a director of the Translational Research Institute. Mohammed has experience with several large-scale technical assistance, dissemination, and external evaluation projects. She also manages data and co-leads centerwide and project-specific data management, analysis, and measurement teams.
Greg Roberts
Dr. Greg Roberts is the associate director of MCPER. His bio is available through this link.
Researchers
Meghan Coleman
Meghan Coleman is a doctoral student in the Department of Special Education. Coleman earned her bachelor of arts degree from Rutgers College in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and her master of science degree in education from Hunter College in New York, New York. She is a certified special education teacher with 4 years of teaching experience in special education. Her current research interests include teacher preparation, response to intervention, and dropout prevention.
Kristina Metz
Kristina Metz is a doctoral student in the Department of Educational
Psychology with a concentration in school psychology. Metz earned her
bachelor of arts degree in child development at Vanderbilt University.
She went on to conduct research on early intervention programs at the
University of Pennsylvania and Rutgers University. Her research
interests include school-based early intervention programs,
family-school connections, and international education development. Metz
has served as a graduate research assistant for The University of Texas
Elementary School Social and Emotional Evaluation and the Texas Middle School Fluency Assessment. She currently works on the Center on Instruction Special Education Strand and the Texas Center for Learning Disabilities Dissemination Core.
Christy Murray
Christy Murray is a project manager at MCPER and currently serves as the deputy director of the Center on Instruction’s special education and response to intervention work. During her 5 years in this role, Murray has provided technical assistance to regional comprehensive centers and state departments of education, as well as developed products, publications, and professional development materials. Previously, she served as data coordinator on a longitudinal research study that examined the implementation of the 3-tier model in K–3 reading. Murray earned her master of arts degree in educational psychology from The University of Texas at Austin in 2004. Her research interests include response to intervention and effective reading instruction and intervention for struggling students. Prior to joining MCPER in 2001, she worked as an elementary school teacher, where she instructed students in both general and special education.
Desiree Pallais
Desiree Pallais works for the Building Capacity for Response to Intervention (RtI) Project. Pallais specializes in designing multimedia tools for professional development and in supporting bilingual populations with reading intervention resources. She started her career in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1981 as an alternative educator, teaching science, Spanish, and English to at-risk youth and to adults. In 1990, she founded an elementary school in her native Nicaragua, developing technology-based curricular innovations. Pallais earned a scholarship for a master’s in educational technology from the University of Salamanca, Spain, in 1996. She has worked in curriculum, training, and evaluation for the Agency for International Development. She received an M.A. in program evaluation from The University of Texas at Austin in 2004. Pallais is interested in cross-language issues and in prevention systems that link assessment to instruction.
Kathleen Walker
Kathleen Walker serves as project coordinator for the Building Capacity for Response to Intervention (RtI) Implementation project. Walker’s current work involves providing Texas educators and parents with information about RtI. A key responsibility is managing the content and resources on the project website. Her previous work with the center includes providing support and assistance to Spotlight 3-Tier campuses as a 3-tier facilitator and, subsequently, as project coordinator on the Spotlight 3-Tier project. Prior to that, she served as a teacher in Illinois. Walker earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois. She is certified to teach prekindergarten through ninth grade. Her research interests include the prevention of learning difficulties and effective instructional practices to support all learners.