Dr. Carol McDonald Connor

Assistant Professor, Florida State University College of Education and Florida Center for Reading Research
227 N Bronough Street, Suite 7250, Tallahassee, FL 32301
(850) 644-9352
(850) 644-9085 (fax)
E-mail: cconnor@fcrr.org
Curriculum Vitae (pdf)

Dr. Connor is an assistant professor at Florida State University in the College of Education, Childhood Education, Reading, and Disabilities Services, Reading and Language Arts program and a research faculty member of the Florida Center for Reading Research. She is responsible for teaching classes in the science of reading, child language and literacy development, and on policy issues surrounding literacy at the graduate level. As a member of FCRR, her research focuses on examining the links between children's language and literacy development. Understanding these links may illuminate reasons for the perplexing difficulties children who are atypical and diverse learners have developing basic reading skills.

Prior to arriving at FSU, she was a research faculty member at University of Michigan, Department of Psychology, where she also completed her Ph.D and a 1 year post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. Frederick Morrison, Professor, Developmental Psychology. There she explored the multiple sources of influence on children's literacy development including sociocultural issues, parenting and home environment, preschool and day care, as well as the influence of instruction and teachers' preparation and qualifications. She is a certified Speech-Language Pathologist (degree from Northwestern University). Previously, she worked with atypical learners, including children who were profoundly deaf.

Most recently, her research interests have focused on children's learning in the classroom - from preschool through third grade. Her research indicates that the effectiveness of specific instructional activities depends on the language and reading skills children bring with them to school; these interactions are evident as early as preschool and continue through third grade for a number of child language and literacy outcomes. Dr. Connor is currently the principal investigator of a study funded by the US Department of Education, Institute for Education Sciences. This study examines the causal effects of individualizing language arts instruction in first grade based on students' language and early reading skills. The project provides teachers supportive and intensive professional development throughout the school year coupled with web-based software that automatically translates student assessment results into specific weekly recommendations for amounts and types of language arts instruction for each student. The software and recommended instruction are integrated with the schools' existing curriculum and reading program. Teachers are taught how to characterize the curriculum and their teaching using dimensions of instruction (explicit versus implicit, code-based versus meaning based, etc.), as well as how to use the networked technology to match student abilities with amount and type of instructional activity for each student in the classroom.

Dr. Connor has authored articles that have been published in peer-reviewed journals including SCIENCE, Journal of Educational Psychology, Scientific Studies of Reading, Journal of School Psychology, and Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research. She is a co-author of the book, Improving Literacy in America: Guidelines from Research.


				Dr. Carol McDonald Connor Assistant Professor, Florida State University College of Education and Florida Center for Reading Research 227 N Bronough Street, Suite 7250, Tallahassee, FL 32301 (850) 644-9352 (850) 644-9085 (fax) E-mail: cconnor@fcrr.org Curriculum Vitae (pdf) Dr. Connor is an assistant professor at Florida State University in the College of Education, Childhood Education, Reading, and Disabilities Services, Reading and Language Arts program and a research faculty member of the Florida Center for Reading Research. She is responsible for teaching classes in the science of reading, child language and literacy development, and on policy issues surrounding literacy at the graduate level. As a member of FCRR, her research focuses on examining the links between children's language and literacy development. Understanding these links may illuminate reasons for the perplexing difficulties children who are atypical and diverse learners have developing basic reading skills. Prior to arriving at FSU, she was a research faculty member at University of Michigan, Department of Psychology, where she also completed her Ph.D and a 1 year post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. Frederick Morrison, Professor, Developmental Psychology. There she explored the multiple sources of influence on children's literacy development including sociocultural issues, parenting and home environment, preschool and day care, as well as the influence of instruction and teachers' preparation and qualifications. She is a certified Speech-Language Pathologist (degree from Northwestern University). Previously, she worked with atypical learners, including children who were profoundly deaf. Most recently, her research interests have focused on children's learning in the classroom - from preschool through third grade. Her research indicates that the effectiveness of specific instructional activities depends on the language and reading skills children bring with them to school; these interactions are evident as early as preschool and continue through third grade for a number of child language and literacy outcomes. Dr. Connor is currently the principal investigator of a study funded by the US Department of Education, Institute for Education Sciences. This study examines the causal effects of individualizing language arts instruction in first grade based on students' language and early reading skills. The project provides teachers supportive and intensive professional development throughout the school year coupled with web-based software that automatically translates student assessment results into specific weekly recommendations for amounts and types of language arts instruction for each student. The software and recommended instruction are integrated with the schools' existing curriculum and reading program. Teachers are taught how to characterize the curriculum and their teaching using dimensions of instruction (explicit versus implicit, code-based versus meaning based, etc.), as well as how to use the networked technology to match student abilities with amount and type of instructional activity for each student in the classroom. Dr. Connor has authored articles that have been published in peer-reviewed journals including SCIENCE, Journal of Educational Psychology, Scientific Studies of Reading, Journal of School Psychology, and Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research. She is a co-author of the book, Improving Literacy in America: Guidelines from Research.