About the Presenters

Dr. Colby Hall is an assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education at the University of Virginia. She studies literacy development, assessment, and instruction. Her research focuses on the components of effective literacy instruction for elementary and middle-school students with or at risk for literacy-learning difficulties; inference instruction as a means of improving reading comprehension; reading instruction for emergent bilingual students; instruction supporting text comprehension in content-area classrooms; and technology-delivered reading instruction. Dr. Hall is currently the principal investigator (PI) on an Office of Special Education Programs-funded project that seeks to adapt the Accelerating Early Reading Outcomes (AERO) small-group reading intervention so that it better meets the needs of primary grade Spanish-speaking emergent bilingual students at risk for reading difficulties. She is also PI on an Institute of Education Sciences-funded project that aims to further develop and pilot test a knowledge-building, inference instruction intervention for middle schoolers.

[Dr. Colby Hall’s opinions are her own and not necessarily that of the University of Virginia or any other institution in which she is affiliated.]

Dr. Michael Mesa earned a doctoral degree from the Educational Psychology and Learning Systems program at Florida State University, where he also earned certificates in statistical measurement and college teaching. He also completed a postdoctoral fellowship funded by the Institute of Education Sciences at the Children’s Learning Institute. Prior to starting at the Children’s Learning Institute, Dr. Mesa worked for the Florida Center for Reading Research at Florida State University and the Center for Children and Families at Florida International University. He was also the instructor of record for multiple in-person and online courses in the College of Education at Florida State University. He is the Co-PI for multiple grant-funded projects focused on small-group instruction.

[Dr. Michael Mesa’s opinions are his own and not necessarily that of Florida State University or any other institution in which he is affiliated.]

About the Moderator

Dr. Amanda Alexander serves as Scholastic’s Chief Academic Officer. In this role, she leads research and validation efforts to ensure the efficacy of products, the delivery of professional learning services, and the company’s partnership with the Yale Child Study Center, focusing on the intersection of literacy and health. Prior to joining Scholastic, Dr. Alexander served as the Vice President of Policy and Partnership Development at Teachstone. With more than 20 years of progressive leadership experience, the majority of Dr. Alexander’s service has been as a practitioner in the public sector. She has a B.A. in English and an M.Ed. in curriculum and instruction from Howard University, an M.S.Ed. in educational leadership from Baruch College, and a Ph.D. in education from American University.