Meet the Team

Developers

The WORDS Project is being developed by Nebraska faculty with expertise in special education and communication disorders, specifically early literacy, reading and writing development.

Michael Hebert, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator

Associate Professor
Director, UCI Writing Project
University of California, Irvine

mhebert1@uci.edu

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Judith Wilson, Ph.D.

Co-Principal Investigator

Associate Professor of Practice, Department of Teaching, Learning & Teacher Education, retired
University of Nebraska–Lincoln

jwilson39@unl.edu

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Partners

The WORDS Project would not be possible without our local school/district partners, collaborators at the Nebraska Department of Education and support from the Swanson, Biggs, Adams, Family Foundation. The Swanson, Biggs, Adams, Family Foundation has been instrumental in providing sponsorship for teachers in the project, in particular Reading Leaders, and resources for accelerating the progress of students with reading difficulties during the pandemic.

Abby Burke, Ed.D.

Reading Specialist

Nebraska Department of Education

Amy Rhone

Administrator, Office of Special Education

Nebraska Department of Education

Jay Ehler

Superintendent

Sidney Public Schools

Reading Leadership Personnel

The WORDS Project includes Reading Leadership Personnel, or trainers, who implement the professional development in schools across the Nebraska.

Marc Goodrich, Ph.D.

Investigator and Assessment Evaluation Lead

Janet Bohaty, Ph.D.

WORDS Trainer

University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Mary Jo McElhose

NeMTSS System Consultant

WORDS Trainer

Nancy Coffey

WORDS Trainer

Project Manager

Sergio Leiva Cardona, Ph.D.

WORDS Trainer

Heidi Hines

WORDS Trainer

Ph.D. Graduate Student

Reading Leaders

Nebraska teachers have generously volunteered to deliver the professional development in their schools. This list of Reading Leaders will continue to grow as we build capacity statewide.

Teacher 1

Reading Specialist

Sidney, NE

Teacher 2

Administrator, Office of Special Education

Sidney, NE