Literacy for Young Children

Priscilla L. Griffith is the Ruth G. Hardman Chair in Education and a Professor in the Department of Instructional Leadership and Academic Curriculum at the University of Oklahoma where she teaches undergraduate and graduate level literacy education courses. Priscilla has worked in language and literacy, and teacher education for over three decades. She has applied her expertise in these areas as an editor of professional journals including The Reading Teacher and Action in Teacher Education, as a consultant for school districts, and as a classroom teacher. She has worked with Pre-K teachers in Early Reading First classrooms. In addition, Priscilla works regularly with teachers as Director of the Oklahoma Writing Project, a site of the National Writing Project. She is a past president of the Florida Reading Association and the Oklahoma Reading Association. Priscilla received her Ph.D. degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

Sara Ann (Sally) Beach is a professor of literacy education at the University of Oklahoma where she is coordinator of the reading program and teaches undergraduate and graduate literacy courses. Her professional experiences include teaching children from kindergarten through fifth grade and teaching teachers around the world to use reading and writing as a tool for thinking. Beach has worked with preschool teachers on Early Childhood Professional Educator and Early Reading First grants. Her research focuses on children's development as literate people and the classrooms that provide opportunities students to become critically literate. Beach has a master's degree from Texas A&M University and a doctorate in reading from the University of California, Riverside. Jiening Ruan is associate professor of reading/literacy education in the College of Education at the University of Oklahoma, where she teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in reading and literacy education. She also directs the University of Oklahoma's Reading Clinic and Reading Specialist Certification Program. Ruan's research interests focus on literacy development of children from diverse backgrounds and on the effectiveness of technology integration in literacy education. Ruan holds master's degrees in elementary education and in reading education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis on language and literacy education from Purdue University.

Loraine Dunn is a professor in early childhood education at the University of Oklahoma where she teaches early childhood classes, oversees the child development laboratory, and makes student teaching placements. Her research has focused on child care program quality, developmentally appropriate practice, and children's learning and development. Recently, Dunn served on a team that developed the Early Steps to Literacy project funded by an Early Childhood Educator Professional Development grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Dunn began her career teaching in a child care center serving children living in poverty. She later served as the education coordinator for a Head Start program, a kindergarten teacher in a small rural school, and as a teacher of children and adults in university child development laboratories. Dunn received her master's degree in child development from Iowa State University and her doctorate in child development and family studies from Purdue University.