Louisa Moats, Ed.D., directed the NICHD Early Reading Interventions Project in high poverty, minority schools in Washington, DC and as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar, worked on the Texas and California Reading Initiatives. Dr. Moats is known for her many publications on reading instruction, the professional development of teachers, and the relationship between language, reading, and spelling.
Among her many publications are Spelling: Development, Disability and Instruction (York Press), Speech to Print: Language Essentials for Teachers (Brookes), Parenting a Struggling Reader (with Susan L. Hall, Broadway Books), and LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (Sopris West).
Elaine McEwan-Adkins, Ed.D., is a partner and educational consultant with The McEwan-Adkins Group, offering professional development in literacy and school leadership. A former teacher, principal, and assistant superintendent for instruction in a suburban Chicago school district, she is the author of more than thirty-five books for parents and educators including Raising Reading Achievement in Middle and High Schools and Teach Them ALL to Read: Catching the Kids Who Fall through the Cracks.
Elaine was honored by the Illinois Principals Association as an outstanding instructional leader, by the Illinois State Board of Education with an Award of Excellence in the Those Who Excel Program, and by the National Association of Elementary School Principals as the National Distinguished Principal from Illinois for 1991.
Linda Carnine, Ph.D., has worked with implementations of all levels of Reading Mastery for 40 years and was one of the authors for Reading Mastery and Corrective Reading. For nearly 20 years, she worked in a public school system in Oregon, including the positions of Principal and Special Education Director. Most recently, she has worked with Reading First implementations and the required assessments.
Susan Hanner, was involved with the original program development of all iterations of some levels of DISTAR, Reading Mastery, and Corrective Reading including tryouts and implied revisions. She has trained teachers and worked with students in many geographic settings in both regular education and special education.
Michael G. Morris, Chairman, President and CEO of American Electric Power, will be the keynote speaker at the COBIDA conference luncheon. He serves on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Electricity Advisory Board, the National Governors Association’s Task Force on Electricity Infrastructure, the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, Business Roundtable (chairing the Business Roundtable's Sustainable Growth Initiative), and the Columbus Downtown Development Corporation. Morris also serves as a director of the boards of Alcoa, Battelle, Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited, and The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.
Eric Tridas, M.D., is the Medical Director of the Tridas Center for Child Development. He is a Developmental Pediatrician who specializes in the diagnosis and management of handicapping conditions including ADHD, Learning Disabilities, Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and other neurodevelopmental and behavioral problems. He completed his fellowship in Ambulatory Pediatrics with emphasis on Developmental Disabilities at the Children's Hospital Medical Center in Boston. During that time he held an appointment as a Teaching Fellow at Harvard University. Dr. Tridas is a Clinical Assistant Professor in Family Practice at the University Of South Florida School Of Medicine and currently on the Executive Board of the International Dyslexia Association.
William L. Heward, Ed.D., is Professor Emeritus at The Ohio State University, where he taught for 30 years. Internationally recognized for his work in two related fields–special education and applied behavior analysis–Dr. Heward has served as a Visiting Professor of Psychology at Keio University in Tokyo and as a Senior Fulbright Scholar in Portugal. In 1985, Dr. Heward received The Ohio State University's highest honor for teaching excellence: the Alumni Association's Distinguished Teaching Award. Dr. Heward has published more than 80 peer-reviewed research and conceptual papers in professional journals and is the author or co-author of 8 books, including Applied Behavior Analysis.
Jeanne Wanzek, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in special education at Florida State University and on the research faculty at the Florida Center for Reading Research. She is a former special educator and elementary teacher. Dr. Wanzek conducts research examining effective reading instruction and intervention. She has worked with several elementary and middle schools to improve core classroom instruction and intervention implementation in a response to intervention model. In addition, she has consulted with several schools and districts across the country on the implementation of effective reading instruction.
Louisa Moats, Ed.D.
