Sandra McCormick

Before assuming a university teaching position, Sandra McCormick had various roles in the public schools. She taught as a fourth- and fifth-grade teacher in schools comprised primarily of at-risk students, served as a Title I reading teacher for elementary and middle school students, worked as a Reading Resource teacher in a literacy coach role assisting teachers with their reading and language arts programs, and was the supervisor of a citywide reading program that served 129 elementary schools in a large Midwestern city. She also was a television reading teacher, teaching children in eight cities in Ohio via a PBS program aimed at students with reading delays.

After receiving her PH.D. at The Ohio State University, Dr. McCormick joined the faculty in the College of Education at that university, where she taught courses on remedial and clinical reading assessment and instruction, and on methods for reading instruction with learning disabled students. She also was the Director of The Ohio State University Reading Clinic for a number of years.

Dr. McCormick is the author or editor of a number of books in addition to the latest edition of Instructing Students Who Have Literacy Problems (6th ed.), with Jerry Zutell. Others include Remedial and Clinical Reading Instruction, and Cognitive and Social Perspectives for Literacy Research and Instruction (the latter also with Dr. Zutell). She has published articles in journals such Reading Research Quarterly, The Reading Teacher, Journal of Educational Research, Journal of Reading, Exceptional Children, Journal of Reading Behavior, Journal of Learning Disabilities, and Language Arts. Dr. McCormick was coeditor of the National Reading Conference Yearbook for 3 years and has been on the editorial advisory review board of several journals. Her research interest, as might be expected, is with students having literacy difficulties. Although her research focus was on comprehension instruction and reading/learning disabled students for several years, more recently she has investigated ways to facilitate word learning with the most severely delayed readers, including nonreaders.

Dr. McCormick has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the International Reading Association, and was a distinguished finalist for the Albert J. Harris Award presented annually for significant research on reading disabilities. Dr. McCormick has been a frequent presenter at national and international conferences and has regularly reviewed research and development proposals for the United States Department of Education.