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Course Crafters, Inc.

ELL FACTS

FACT: The English Language Learner (ELL) market is the fastest-growing segment of the K-12 education market.

ELLs comprise roughly 10.5% of all students nationwide. By 2012, ELLs will grow to 25% of the total K-12 student population! In fact, this is already happening in California. This translates to over $500 million in available funds for K-12 ELL materials annually—and could potentially grow to a $1 billion market by 2012.

FACT: The growing ELL population is academically at-risk.

School districts are under tremendous pressure to raise the academic achievement of ELLs. Passage of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and state English-only legislation added to this pressure. In addition, ELLs are required to demonstrate these achievements in English.

Nationally, the achievement gap between ELLs and all public school students is significant. Only 9.6% of 4th and 8th grade ELLs scored "proficient" or higher in math on the NAEP in 2007, compared to 34.8% of students as a whole. The gap is similar in reading: Only 5.6% of ELLs scored proficient in reading, with a national average of 30.4%.

FACT: The Economic Stimulus package will provide additional funds for schools to purchase products that raise ELLs' test scores.

The new Economic Stimulus package provides $13 billion for Title I grants to help disadvantaged kids reach high academic standards - ensuring that in this period of tight state and local budgets these vital services are maintained.

A large majority of Title I programs serve English language learners (ELLs).

FACT: Most materials do not meet ELLs' needs.

Many ELLs are failing to meet the mandated educational achievement goals, because educators do not have the experience, training, or resources necessary to meet the needs of ELLs. School districts are urgently seeking effective solutions for addressing the academic needs of ELLs.

Providing effective materials for English learners and their teachers will allow your company to address an urgent market need, be more competitive, and capture some of the new education monies available to school districts.

Contact Course Crafters today for a complimentary 30-minute "ELL audit."

Mission Statement:

Course Crafters' mission is to help ensure the academic success of English language learners (ELLs) by developing research-based, effective, and motivating instructional materials for these students, as well as providing professional development workshops for administrators and teachers.

Vision:

To be the industry leader in designing and developing instructional materials and professional services and tools that help school districts to ensure the academic success of every English language learner.

Belief:

All ELLs will have equal access to academic excellence by being given the language and strategies to succeed in textbooks and their classes.

Core Values:

• Committed partnerships with publishers and school districts to ensure ELLs' academic success and success for their teachers.
• Unequivocal excellence in all aspects of the company
• Being a pioneer — not following others, striving to make educational materials better, for teachers and students
• Hard work and strong sense of commitment and responsibility
• Excellence in reputation — being known as experts, as leaders; being part of something special

The Course Crafters Team

Our team specializes in the development of curriculum materials and content for English language learners, and resources and professional development for their teachers that build in ELL Best Practices.

• Lise Ragan
• Suzanne Irujo
• Lydia Stack
• Sue Jones
• Sheila Pfeiffer
• Karen Clevidence
• Alejandro Paredes
• Ellen Balla
• Quan Anh Cao
• Jeri Cipriano
• Dr. Barbara Krol-Sinclair
• Dr. Natalie Kuhlman
• Barbara Levadi
• Barbara Linde
• Myriam (Mimi) Met
• Libby Romero
• Elizabeth (Beth) Skelton
• Dr. Joanne C. Wachter

Click on each name to see what we do. To contact us, call 1-978-372-3446 ext 228.

Lise Ragan, CEO, Course Crafters, is a former ESL teacher and a 30-year veteran of educational publishing, with extensive experience in developing curriculum materials for English language learners. She is the founder of Course Crafters, Inc., an established and successful developer of K-12 ELL materials. Over the past 14 years, Course Crafters has been an author and developer of ESL programs for many educational publishers, including LeapFrog SchoolHouse (Language First!), Rigby/Harcourt Achieve (On Our Way to English), and Berlitz/Children's Television Workshop (Sesame English). Course Crafters is also a consultant on the K-12 ELL field; the company has published several seminal research studies, including The Course Crafters Guides to the ELL Market (copyright 2003, 2005) as well as providing consulting services to companies including Scholastic, Pearson Digital Learning, and Houghton Mifflin. Lise holds a B.A. in Languages and Education from Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and has earned graduate credits in linguistics and education. She is a frequent speaker on the ELL field in the U.S. and overseas.

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Dr. Suzanne Irujo, Author (ELL Academic Notebooks), Editor, and Trainer, Course Crafters, has been a teacher and teacher educator in the fields of bilingual education, ESL, and foreign language education for 30 years. Her public school experience includes teaching elementary bilingual education and ESL, teaching high school ESL and Spanish, and administering a K-12 ESL program. As a teacher educator, she taught ESL, foreign language, and bilingual methodology courses and supervised student teachers at Boston University, where she also taught courses in linguistics, first language acquisition, bilingualism and biliteracy, and second language acquisition. Dr. Irujo has been a frequent presenter at national and international conferences and has participated in teacher education programs in Ecuador, Colombia, and Mexico. She has served as consultant to school districts and state departments of education in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Her service to TESOL has included being president of the Massachusetts affiliate and chair of the Teacher Education Interest Section.

During most of her teaching career, Dr. Irujo has also worked as consultant and editor with publishers of ESL, EFL, foreign language, and bilingual education materials. After her retirement from Boston University, she taught courses at Notre Dame College, and continues to teach a course in bilingualism and biliteracy in schools as a visiting professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Dr. Irujo holds an Ed.D. in applied psycholinguistics, an M.Ed. in bilingual education, and a B.A. in Spanish. She is the author of Teaching Bilingual Children: Beliefs and Behaviors (Heinle & Heinle, 1998), series editor of the four-volume series Integrating the ESL Standards Into Classroom Practice (TESOL, 2000) and co-editor of Collaborative Conversations Among Language Teacher Educators (TESOL, 2004).

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Lydia Stack is an internationally well-known teacher educator and author, with a specialization in teaching reading/English language arts to English Language Learners (ELLs). Now retired from her positions as a teacher and coordinator for the San Francisco USD, she is involved in developing standards for ELLs and teachers, curriculum writing, and teacher training. Ms. Stack is a founding member of the Understanding Language (http://ell.stanford.edu) initative on Language, Literacy, and Learning in the Content Areas. The goal of this project is to enrich academic content and language instruction for ELLs in grades K-12 by making explicit the language and literacy skills that are required to meet the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and Next Generation Science Standards. In addition, Ms. Stack currently provides professional development for teachers on the SIOP model (Sheltered Instructional Observation Protocol) for the Center for Applied Linguistics.

Previously, Ms. Stack worked in the San Francisco Unified School District, where she was an elementary and secondary English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher. After leaving the classroom, she coordinated ESL professional development, secondary ESL programs, and Special Education Psychological Assessments for the School District. In addition, she has taught Second Language Acquisition classes at Stanford University and San Francisco State University.

Ms. Stack's awards include the Exceptional Educator award from the California Lottery and Legislature (2005); the Heinle Lifetime Achievement Award (2004); the TESOL James E. Alatis Award (2003) for Outstanding Service to the English as a Second Language Teaching Profession; the CATESOL Sadie Iwataki Leadership Award (1991); and the San Francisco STAR Teacher Award (1989). In 1991-92, Lydia was President of TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages), an international association of teachers concerned with English language teaching worldwide.

Lydia Stack has co-authored a number of curriculum materials and programs for English Language Learners, including American Themes—A literature anthology for ACCESS students for the Office of English Language Programs (2012, in production); On Our Way to English, K-5—an ESL program for elementary students, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010; The McDougal-Littell Literature and Language Arts Program (ELL Components), 2007; ESL Guide to McDougal-Littell Social Studies Program, 2004; On Our Way to English, Rigby, 2003; Visions (Books 1-3), Heinle, 2003; Voices in Literature (Bronze, Silver and Gold), Heinle, 1996; Making Connections (Books 1-3), Heinle, 1995; and WordWays (Gameboards, Cubes, and Cards), Alta Book Publishers, 1979.

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Sue Jones, An ELT/EFL publishing specialist, Sue's experience spans editorial management and development, sales and marketing, list-building, and change management of editorial processes to reflect changing market requirements.

Taking up the ELT profession as a teacher immediately after graduation, posts in Germany, Russia, Poland and the UK followed. Sue then joined Macmillan Education as an ELT specialist, spending a lot of time in Greece as the teaching of English there grew massively, along with a large market for ELT materials.

After a decade as a marketing/sales specialist involving extensive teacher consultation and seminar-giving, Sue moved to Hong Kong as Macmillan's first ELT-dedicated publisher for China and the SE Asia region. Subsequent career changes saw a return to Greece to lead the setting up of a new local publisher, Burlington Books, and a decade as Macmillan's ELT Publisher for Latin America. Sue then led the McGraw-Hill ESL team out of New York before returning to the UK as Managing Director of ELT Publishing for Macmillan Education in Oxford, a position she held until early 2011.

Sue has considerable knowledge and understanding of classroom practice, teacher skill levels, local education systems, and institutional structures in all key international ELT/EFL markets. She developed this expertise by means of extensive classroom observation and discussions with teachers and school leaders, in pursuit of the deep understanding of teacher concerns and practice essential for the development of high-quality classroom materials suitable for successful English learning, K-adult.

Sue holds a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy from Bedford College, University of London and a postgraduate ELT qualification from the same university's Institute of Education.

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Sheila Pfeiffer, Instructional Designer, Writer, and Editor, has been actively involved in teaching, publishing, and multimedia development for nearly 20 years, specializing in materials for ELLs, both in the U.S. and overseas. Her broad teaching experience includes teaching middle school ESL and language arts, teaching academic ESL at UCLA and UC Berkeley, coordinating a K-8 technology lab, and developing customized language instruction for corporate clients such as Texas Instruments.

As an Instructional Designer, Sheila has contributed to award-winning products at such companies as Creative Wonders (division of Electronic Arts), The Learning Company, McGraw Hill Home Interactive, and LeapFrog. Of the products that she designed for LeapFrog, both the interactive English Picture Dictionary for Spanish Speakers and Leapster Story Explorers received the Association of Educational Publishers' coveted Golden Lamp Award as well as the Teacher's Choice Award. Her most recent design is a proprietary EFL language learning curriculum developed for very young learners in China, which is currently being piloted with very positive feedback.

Sheila's contributions in educational publishing have primarily been as a developmental editor on both student materials and teacher editions. She has contributed to various ESL and EFL/ELT textbook projects for companies such as Cambridge University Press, Harcourt, Heinle, and others. This work includes the revision of a California Social Studies textbook with SDAIE support for sheltered English, as well as the localization of a four-level EFL series for the Middle East market. She is equally comfortable navigating through state standards (such as TEKS) and international ministry frameworks, such as those of China, Malaysia, and the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference).

Sheila has also worked on various content-area multimedia titles in science, math, and social studies, including the ClueFinders series, a Pokémon science series, an Oregon Trail revision for a handheld platform, two social studies simulation games (Pyramid: Challenge of the Pharaoh's Dream and Pony Express Rider), as well as the Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia CD and its localization for the Australian and German markets.

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Karen Clevidence, Developmental Editor and Writer, has been involved in the fields of ESL/EFL (English as a Second/Foreign Language) and cross-cultural awareness training for twenty years. She has taught students of all ages from all over the world at all levels of English language acquisition. Karen's teaching experience ranges from business English for international professionals, survival English for immigrants, college preparation courses for foreign students, and English for academic purposes with elementary and secondary students. She has also provided cross-cultural awareness training to foreign teaching assistants.

In 2000, Karen's career in ESL/EFL turned to writing and editing materials for English language learners. She began as an editor for Rigby and by 2004 was Supervising Editor of Harcourt Achieve's ESL division. Karen has overseen bringing many materials for English language learners to the field, including both print and electronic reading, writing, oral language, and assessment materials for students in grades K-8.

Karen is the author of ESL Oral Language Practice in Content Areas (Harcourt Achieve). She has TEFL certification in affiliation with Rutgers University through the American University of Paris. She has also taken numerous graduate courses in ESL at Southern Illinois University.

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Alejandro Paredes, Ph.D., Spanish/bilingual Program Director, has been an educator throughout his professional life, 14 years in the classroom as a Spanish teacher, and the last 17 in educational publishing. Most of his publishing experience has been in the fields of bilingual education, ESL, and Spanish as a foreign language, K-12 and adult. His publishing career has included positions at several publishers and development houses, including eight years as Senior Editor at Glencoe McGraw-Hill, where he directed the development of high school Spanish programs, including textbooks, ancillaries, assessment materials, and technology components. At Lexicon Marketing, he was the Managing Editor responsible for a very successful adult ESL program for the home market that included English for the workplace and an online component.

Dr. Paredes has worked on a large spectrum of projects that demonstrate his bilingual expertise, versatility, and broad experience: Consultant and developmental editor for a national bilingual education assessment program (K-12); writer of instructional guides for elementary English literacy programs (K-6 and Middle School); writer of activity workbooks for middle school Spanish; and senior writer for high school basal Spanish textbooks and ancillaries, including a workbook for heritage Spanish speakers. He obtained a B.A. degree in Bilingual Education from California State University, Long Beach, and later, M.A and Ph.D. degrees in Spanish Literature and Applied Linguistics from the University of Southern California.

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Ellen M. Balla, Freelance Editor/Writer, has been working in the field of education since 1979. During that time, she has been involved in teaching ELL students at the elementary, middle school, high school, college, and adult levels. She has planned and implemented curriculums for different districts and has trained master's candidates in the area of teaching English as a Second Language at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Ellen also served as an elementary school principal in New Jersey for one year.

In addition to teaching, Ellen has been working in the field of publishing since 1983. Her publishing experiences include writing ELL materials for elementary, middle school, high school, adult, and college students. Ellen has also written grammar-based textbooks for mainstream elementary students. She has authored many guided reading books for children at the elementary level and has written more than 100 lesson plans for guided reading teacher's editions. She has authored two books, Ten Tales for Teaching English and Ten Fables for Teaching English. Ellen was formally trained at Fairleigh Dickinson University and holds a B.A. in psychology and a M.A. in Teaching English as a Second Language. She holds an additional M.A. in Educational Administration from Kean University.

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Quan Anh Cao, Consultant and Trainer, is one of the leading nationally and internationally recognized ESOL, cross-cultural counseling and parental involvement trainers. Quan Anh Cao also designs and writes curricula, conducts leadership training, facilitates strategic planning and mindmapping, and performs process evaluations of programs across the U.S. as well as in 6 other countries.

Mr. Quan's extensive background and experience in education, cross-cultural human services, and community and leadership development include consultancies with private sector multinationals (including the Center for Applied Linguistics, Houghton-Mifflin, and the College Board) and public sector institutions (federal agencies, including NCBE and OBEMLA, and State Departments of Social Services, Education, Health, and Mental Health in 45 states).

Mr. Quan's unique experience in auditing ELL classrooms for the State of Florida (1982-1989), his organizational development work with both TESOL and NABE, and his commitment to growing community-based leadership programs bring a fresh and dynamic perspective to the work of ELL teachers in the global village. In addition to his full-time professorship at Palm Beach Community College in English for Academic Purposes, he is also the Vice President of University Seminars International, the CEO & founder of the SCDJ Group, and the Senior Clinical Associate of Cao & Associates.

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Jeri S. Cipriano, Freelance Writer/Editor has more than a 25-year track record creating award-winning materials for classrooms, specializing in materials for students at risk and earning nine EDPRESS awards as Editorial Director of at-risk and special needs students at Scholastic, Inc. While at Scholastic, responsible for supplementary reading magazines and programs, Jeri developed and launched U.S. EXPRESS, the first English Language Learning magazine of its kind, in 1988. Since then, she's devoted the majority of her time developing guided reading, early literacy, and intervention programs for ELL and at-risk students. These materials include guided readers, leveled readers for ELLs, high-interest nonfiction intervention magazines and books, as well as more than 50 original titles in the areas of science and social studies for K-3, 3-5, and 6-8 grades.

Jeri is well-grounded in time-tested strategies as well as recent pedagogy for helping both teachers and students. Before turning to full-time independent work, Jeri received the Achievement of Excellence award at Scholastic Inc, served as Edtiorial Director at Heinle and Heinle and as Executive Editor at Newbridge Education in charge of guided reading programs.

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Dr. Barbara Krol-Sinclair, ELL Literacy Consultant is Director of the Intergenerational Literacy Project (ILP), a collaboration of Boston University and the Chelsea (MA) Public Schools. As part of her responsibilities with the ILP, she develops curriculum, mentors instructional staff, and leads demonstration lessons for both adults' and children’s components of the program. She has served on the Chelsea Public Schools’ literacy curriculum committee and leads professional development workshops for elementary and secondary teachers. Dr. Krol-Sinclair holds an Ed.D. in Literacy, Language, and Cultural Studies from Boston University. She has worked extensively in elementary, secondary, and adult education in a variety of schools and community education settings throughout the United States and overseas. Dr. Krol-Sinclair has authored and co-authored several publications in the area of home-school collaborations, including co-authorship on the research monograph What Should We Expect of Family Literacy? She has made numerous research presentations at state and national conferences.

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Dr. Natalie A. Kuhlman, Consultant, ELL Standards and Assessment. Dr. Natalie A. Kuhlman is Professor Emeritus of Education at San Diego State University, where she taught courses in language assessment, policy, and acquisition and bilingual research at the M.A. and Ph.D. levels. She is a past president of CATESOL and past board member of International TESOL. She has worked in the areas of English Language Development (ELD) standards and assessment locally, nationally, and internationally, both as a presenter and through publications. Dr. Kuhlman was the coordinator for the development of the California ELD Standards, an advisor to the CELDT (California statewide ELD test) development, and author of LOTS (Language Observation Tasks System). She is now a member of the TESOL/NCATE ESL Teacher Standards Task Force and serves on the NCATE Board (National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education), and she served on the Publications Committee for TESOL. Dr. Kuhlman writes on assessment and standards for ELLs in The ELL Outlook™.

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Barbara Levadi, Principal, Vista Resources, Inc. and Program Director, Reading/Language Arts and Intervention projects with Course Crafters, Inc., has been an editorial executive in the educational publishing industry for the past 25 years, focused largely on developing literacy products that reflect the best research and best practices for current markets. She brings extensive knowledge of current trends and issues affecting educators from pre-K to high school. She came to the publishing industry from classroom teaching, serving as a school reading specialist and high school English teacher. Prior to establishing her own publishing consulting company, Vista Resources Inc., Barbara was Vice President and Editorial Director of Reading and Language Arts at McGraw-Hill School Division, where she was responsible for managing development of the core and ancillary reading, language arts, and spelling product line, grades K-8. Earlier, at Globe Fearon Publishers, now known as Pearson Learning, Barbara held the title of Executive Editor of Reading and Language Arts and developed a long line of supplemental products targeted to at-risk middle and high school students. Prior to that, she was Senior Editor of Reading and Language Arts at Silver Burdett Ginn, where, during her first years, she was an editor on a series of top-selling programs in science, math, social studies, and finally, language arts. Barbara also has expertise and experience in editorial development and management of ELL and EFL programs. In four years with Berlitz Languages, Barbara was instrumental in Berlitz's launch of worldwide English instruction for children by developing Sesame English and English Beat, instructional programs for children ages 4-11. It was at this time that Barbara and Course Crafters first collaborated on product development, as they worked with Children's Television Workshop to create Sesame English. Other successful product collaborations between Barbara and Lise Ragan have followed.

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Barbara Linde, Freelance Editor/Writer began her extensive career in education as a teacher in elementary classrooms. She earned an M.A. in Reading Improvement from California State University, Northridge and has completed post-graduate level coursework in reading and English as a Second Language at the University of California Santa Cruz and the University of Virginia. Barbara has taught at all grade levels from Pre-K through adult. For the past twelve years, Barbara has used her classroom knowledge in her work as a writer and editor of educational materials. In her work for Course Crafters, she has served as a developmental editor for programs including LeapFrog SchoolHouse’s Language First!; Rigby’s On Our Way to English; a guided reading series for The Wright Group; and ESL components for two social studies series.

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Dr. Myriam (Mimi) Met, Consultant and Trainer, Course Crafters, is a Senior Research Associate at the National Foreign Language Center at the University of Maryland, where her work focuses primarily on K-12 language policy and planning. Her previous positions include supervisor of foreign language programs, English for Speakers of Other Languages, and bilingual education for several major urban and suburban school districts, including responsibility for designing, implementing, and supervising a variety of language immersion program models. She was one of the founders of the Ohio Association for Bilingual Education; the founder and first president of the National Association of District Supervisors of Foreign Languages; a founding member, and later president, of the National Network for Early Language Learning.

Dr. Met has provided consultant services to school districts, state departments and ministries of education, universities, professional associations, and private agencies throughout the United States, as well as in Europe, Asia, South America, and Canada. She has published extensively in books and refereed journals on topics related to ESL, foreign language, and bilingual education. She is the author of "Teaching Content in a Second Language," in Fred Genesee, Ed., Educating Second Language Children, Cambridge University Press (1994).

Dr. Met has received major national awards from The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages: the Florence Steiner Award for Leadership in Foreign Language Education, K-12, in 1983, and the Papalia Award for Excellence in Teacher Education in 1999. She has also received a Pioneer in Bilingual Education Award from the National Association for Bilingual Education and the Palmes Academiques from the Government of France.

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Libby Romero, Freelance Writer has found her background as a newspaper and magazine journalist and ESL teacher to be a wonderful combination for her work as an ESL curriculum developer. Following seven years as a newspaper and magazine journalist, Libby received her M.A. in Education, focusing on ESL, and took a teaching job in Arlington, Virginia. During her four years with the Arlington Public Schools, she primarily taught beginning level middle school ELLs. However, she gained experience at all levels of the ESL spectrum: K-12; beginning through advanced proficiency levels; as an ESL pull-out and classroom teacher.

For the past five years, Libby has been a freelance curriculum developer. She has produced science and language arts teaching units for ESL students, developed reading and writing assessment materials, and created the framework for a college-level course for teachers focusing on improving minority achievement. She is currently working with Course Crafters to develop a series of leveled science readers for grades 3-6 ELLs. Libby received her bachelor's degrees (B.S., B.J.) from the University of Missouri-Columbia and her M.Ed. from Marymount University.

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Elizabeth (Beth) Skelton, Consultant, Trainer and Author, has presented workshops nationally and internationally for teachers at every level on methods for enhancing second language acquisition. As the English Language Acquisition Coach for Delta County School District in Colorado, a Teacher Trainer for the Colorado Department of Education, and Teacher for Extended Studies Courses at Adams State College, Ms. Skelton has the opportunity of working with teachers and students from the pre-K to adult level. Her classroom experience includes teaching English as a Second Language, German, and Spanish at all grade and ability levels.

Ms. Skelton's professional development sessions consistently receive excellent reviews, and she has won several awards for her presentations, workshops, and teaching including "Best of Conference" at the Southwest Coalition of Language Teachers conference in 1996; the Sallie Mae First Year teacher of the year award in 1989; and "Teacher of the Year" award from Highland High School in Albuquerque, NM in 1995. Students nominated her to "Who's Who Among American Teachers" in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2005.

Ms. Skelton has adapted the Total Physical Response Storytelling method to the needs of English Language Learners and has published several resources to help teachers use this method. In 2003, she published the Putting it Together materials for adult English Language Learners. In 2006, she produced and published a video of her work with TPRS and companion Teachers Manual entitled Putting it Together: TPRS as a Sheltering Strategy for English Language Learners. She also published the Handbook for Teachers for the Concordia Language Villages, articles for the American Association for Teachers of German, and teaching ideas for Ballard and Tighe's Ideas for Excellence newsletter.

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Dr. Joanne C. Wachter, Freelance Writer has been an educator for over 20 years. Her credentials include a doctorate in curriculum and instruction. She has taught in both public and private elementary schools. Joanne also served for 12 years as a district language arts curriculum supervisor and as a coordinator of a district ELL program. In addition, she helped to create and implement a statewide reading and writing assessment in Maryland.

Joanne has been writing instructional materials for over 25 years and has been a full-time freelance writer since 1996. She has extensive experience in writing textbooks, teacher's guides, ancillary materials, fiction and nonfiction passages, leveled readers, and assessments. Joanne specializes in the subject areas of reading, language arts, and ELL materials for primary through high school levels. She is known for producing creative materials while closely following project guidelines, meeting reading level specifications, and incorporating state standards. A few of her recent projects include writing primary level reading intervention materials, creating passages and questions for middle school assessments, writing student and teacher materials for an ELL reading, writing, vocabulary, and grammar program, and completing a teacher edition for an ELL language program.

Joanne is a member of the Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, the International Reading Association, and Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). She has won writing awards from agencies such as the Association of Educational Communications and Technology, the American Bar Association, and the Eastern Educational Network.

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