Degrees: PHD, 1999, Michigan State Univ; MA, 1985, Oakland Univ; BA, 1976, Univ Michigan Ann Arbor

Bio:

Debra Goodman's courses, presentations and research interests include: children's literature, inquiry and critical pedagogy, language, culture and identity, literacy assessment and evaluation, language and literacy learning, and miscue analysis. She is author of The Reading Detective Club (Heinemann, 1999), a book inviting teachers and students to explore reading together. She has also written book chapters and articles on urban teaching, early literacy, literacy assessment, dialect and reading, whole language, and other topics. She has chaired of the Elementary Section Steering Committee of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), and is a past board member of Whole Language Umbrella. She completed her Ph.D. at Michigan State University, where she was awarded a distinguished fellowship. Prior to her doctoral work, she taught in Detroit Public Schools for 15 year, working with multicultural, center city populations. With a group of colleagues, she developed and a public school of choice with a whole language, inquiry focused curriculum.