Leadership Team

Dr. Cheryl Ellerbrock is an Associate Professor of Middle Grades and General Secondary Education at the University of South Florida. Dr. Ellebrock has over 30 publications that center on ways to promote responsive secondary school experiences for young adolescent learners. In 2014 she co-edited a book published by Teachers College Press entitled, “Talking Diversity with Teachers and Teacher Educators: Exercises and Critical Conversations Across the Curriculum.” At USF, Dr. Ellerbrock teaches a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses in middle level and general secondary education. Dr. Ellerbrock is the principal investigator and program coordinator of the Helios STEM Middle School Residency Program funded by a multi-million dollar grant-that created a residency-based undergraduate program for middle grades preservice teachers. In 2016 she won the Paul S. George Award in Recognition of Leadership and Service for the Advancement of Middle School Level Education in the State of Florida and in 2011 she was the recipient of USF’s Outstanding Undergraduate Teacher of the Year award. focus on middle level education.

Dr. Kathleen Brinegar is Associate Professor of Education at Northern Vermont University where she serves as program director of Middle and Secondary Education. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses related to equity and cultural responsiveness, disciplinary literacy, curriculum development and assessment, and school organization and pedagogy. She currently serves as co-editor of Middle School Journal and program chair of the American Educational Research Association’s Middle Level Education Special Interest Group. She is committed to a research agenda that promotes equity and cultural responsiveness by honoring the experiences of young adolescents with marginalized identities. Her research has been published in venues such as; Teaching & Teacher Education, Middle Grades Review, Research in Middle Level Education Online, Middle Grades Research Journal, and The Handbook of Research in Middle Level Education series.

Dr. Lisa Harrison is an Associate Professor in the Department of Teacher Education at Ohio University where she serves as the Middle Childhood Education Program Coordinator.  Dr. Harrison is co-editor of Middle School Journal, and is a member of the Association for Middle Level Education Board of Trustees. She also is the chair of the Professional Preparation Advisory Committee for AMLE. Her research interests are in socio-cultural issues relating to young adolescent development, equity-oriented teacher education, and teaching for social justice. Previous to entering higher education, Dr. Harrison taught middle school mathematics in Brooklyn, NY.

Dr. Kristina Falbe is an Assistant Professor of middle level education at Illinois State University. She works with undergraduate middle level teacher candidates in courses on topics like young adolescent development, middle school philosophy, middle school best practices, and special education in the middle school. She also teaches graduate level courses in educational technology.  Her research focuses on academic achievement and middle school philosophy, self-study methodology,  and the Schools to Watch program.  She is currently the advisor for the ISU CMLA chapter, and the co-director of the Horizon Schools to Watch program for the state of Illinois. Kristina has enjoyed working with the SIG for a number of years as a Council Member, Editor of The Chronicle newsletter, and currently serving the role of Treasurer.

Dr. Stacie Pettit is an Associate Professor in the Department of Teaching and Leading at Augusta University. She serves as the Middle School Program Coordinator and Collegiate Middle Level Association (CMLA) Advisor. Under her leadership, the AU CMLA chapter won the distinction of national host site for 2019-2021. She received the Outstanding Professor of Middle Level Education Award from NAPOMLE at the 2019 AMLE conference. Dr. Pettit received her undergraduate and doctoral degrees from the University of Georgia in Middle School Education and has 18 years of experience teaching middle school (math, language arts, and ESOL) or in higher education (University of Mississippi and AU). Dr. Pettit has taught over 30 different university courses on young adolescent development, active learning, and middle level programs and schools, among others. Her research interests include teaching English Language Learners (ELLs), PDS partnerships, and interdisciplinary initiatives such as Junior Model United Nations. She is an executive board member and AMLE affiliate liaison for the Georgia Association of Middle Level Education (GAMLE).

Dr. Penny Bishop is Associate Dean and Professor of Middle Level Education at the University of Vermont where she teaches future middle grades educators and conducts research on schooling for young adolescents. As founding director of the Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education, Dr. Bishop has served as Principal Investigator on numerous grants, bringing over $13 million dollars to Vermont schools to improve the learning and lives of middle grades students. A former middle level English and Social Studies teacher, Dr. Bishop has served as chair of the American Educational Research Association’s special interest group on Middle Level Education Research (MLER SIG) and as chair of the Association for Middle Level Education’s Research Advisory Board. Dr. Bishop is co-author of six books on effective middle grades practice. She previously served as policy advisor on fellowship to the New Zealand Ministry of Education, providing input and research on effective schooling policies for students in the middle years in that country.

Dr. Penny B. Howell is an associate professor of middle level education at the University of Louisville where she is the Professor in Residence at the University’s Signature Partnership Middle School. She is currently the Past Chair of the American Education Research Association Middle Level Education Research Special Interest Group and past Chair of the Association for Middle Level Education’s Professional Preparation Advisory Committee. Dr. Howell’s research is focused on middle level teacher education and policies related to certification. She has over 40 publications focused on middle level education and was most recently the co-editor on the 11th volume of the Handbook of Research for Middle Level Education entitled, “Preparing Middle Level Educators for 21st Century Schools: Enduring Beliefs, Changing times, Evolving Practices”.

Dr. Nicole C. Miller is an Associate Professor of Middle Level Education  at Mississippi State University in the Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education. She engages in research activities focused on middle level education, middle level teacher preparation, technology integration, and teaching with primary sources.  Dr. Miller teaches the only middle level education course. She is also currently the SIG’s webmaster and regularly attends and presents at AERA and AMLE. Dr. Miller  has reviewed for the Middle School Journal, for the Middle Grades Research Journal, and AERA conference proposals for the SIG. Previously, she worked as a social studies and educational technology teacher at a Los Angeles middle school.

Dr. Mary Beth Schaefer is Associate Professor of Adolescent Education at St. John’s University in Queens, New York. She taught English Language Arts and Reading in middle schools in New York City and in Texas before pursuing a doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania in Literacy. Much of her research focuses on middle grades students’ literacy activities as well as issues of college and career readiness for underserved populations. Her most recent publication outlets include Middle School Journal, Journal of Adult & Adolescent Literacy, and Urban Education.  She is co-editor of the book Research on Teaching and Learning with the Literacies of Young Adolescents and recently received the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE)’s Outstanding Article Award for a co-authored paper titled, “An Historical Overview of the Middle School Movement.” She and two co-authors have an edited book on child-parent research in press with Sense publications.

Kristie W. Smith, Ph.D. is a long-time middle grades educator and teacher educator. Kristie has rich experiences in the P-12 classroom, serving a broad range of students and across diverse communities, mostly in the Atlanta metro area. Kristie also has a strong background in the leadership of teacher professional development. In her university work, Kristie has served Mercer University, Atlanta as a middle grades/secondary literacy education adjunct and Minnesota State University, Mankato as an Assistant Professor of Communication Arts and Literature. Kristie’s current academic appointment is as an Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at Gardner-Webb University. Additionally, Kristie serves as Literacy Instructional Specialist for Gwinnett County Public Schools of Georgia.

Kristie is an active member of AMLE, AERA, and NCTE. Kristie’s professional passions include creative teaching practices, the scholarship of teaching and learning, literacy education as equity, and 21^st century teacher development through culturally responsive, socially just frameworks.

Kimberly J. Stormer, Ph.D., received her bachelor’s degree in English, a master of arts in teaching, and a master in educational leadership from Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma. She completed her doctoral work in instructional leadership academic and curriculum with an emphasis in English education at the University of Oklahoma. Her classroom experience includes seven years as a high school and middle level English language arts and Title I teacher in southwest Oklahoma. Dr. Stormer’s research agenda includes the writing habits of Black and Brown writers  and stakeholders’ self-efficacy in exploring and engaging in culturally responsive practices. Her professorial experiences include Middle Grades Program Coordinator at Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky and Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. She is currently the Department Chair of Education and Professional Programs at Langston University, a HBCU in Langston, Oklahoma. She is a council member of the Middle Level Research Special Interest Group and sits on the editorial board for the Middle School Journal. Her recent and upcoming publications include publications include Why Can’t Tyrone Write:  Reconceptualizing Flower and Hayes for African-American Adolescent Male Writers in Middle Grades Review, Less Doing, More Being:  A Conceptual Framework for Culturally Responsiveness in Middle Grades Education in The International Handbook of Middle Level Education:  Theory, Research, and Policy, and Plickers:  Differentiation in Realtime in National Journal to Accelerate Middle Grade Reform. 

Dr. Jessica DeMink-Carthew’s research centers on supporting middle school teachers in advocating for and creating developmentally responsive learning environments for young adolescents. Her current research focuses on social justice education, personalized learning, and proficiency-based learning as liberatory practices that can promote equity. She is an active advocate for middle grades education locally and nationally through her various roles as researcher, teacher educator, and community partner. She serves on the AMLE Research Advisory Council and is on the executive council of the AERA Middle Level Education Research Special Interest Group. She is an experienced middle grades educator who has taught in France, Michigan, and Hawaii and continues to love learning with and from middle grades students and teachers.

Dr. Francine Falk-Ross is a Professor and Coordinator of the Literacy Education Graduate Program at Pace University in Pleasantville, New York, and the Chair of the New York City campus, where she teaches courses on literacy topics to preservice and practicing teachers, including a course on Middle Grades Reading Methods. She is an active member of the Association of Middle Level Educators, Literacy Research Association, and the American Educational Reading Association’s SIGs for Middle Level Education Research and for Research in Reading and Literacy, and she has presented research individually and with colleagues. Her research publications are at national and international forums including The Handbook of Research in Middle Level Education, Middle Grades Research Journal, the Middle School Journal, Research in the Teaching of English, Social Education, and The International Journal of Learner Diversity and Identities. Dr. Ross has been writing on middle-level literacy topics focused on new literacies, language differences, and students with special needs, for over 25 years and finds the collaborations and camaraderie supportive of friendships and research development.

Ms. Kia Sarnoff is currently a doctoral student in Teacher Education with an emphasis on Middle Grades Mathematics Education at the University of South Florida.  Under the mentorship of Drs. Cheryl Ellerbrock and Eugenia Vomvoridi-Ivanovic, Kia works primarily in the Helios STEM Middle School Residency Program where she teaches middle level coursework and supervises undergraduate preservice teachers during their yearlong residency experience. Kia also teaches classroom management to secondary preservice teachers for the Department of Teaching and Learning. Prior to enrolling in her doctoral program at USF, Kia taught middle school mathematics to sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students in public, Title I schools in Charleston County School District in Charleston, South Carolina. Kia was an active Positive Behavior Interventions & Supports (PBIS) committee member and a robotics coach.  She held various leadership roles in her time as a classroom teacher such as grade level team leader, Teacher Curriculum Team (TCT) leader, and PBIS data adviser.