College of Education and Human Development

Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement

Alisha Wackerle-Hollman

  • Associate Director of Translational Research

Alisha Wackerle-Hollman

Areas of interest

Assessment design (monolingual and bilingual)
Early literacy and language development
Data based decision making
Multi-tiered systems of support specific to early childhood
Parent engagement and intervention
Community based participatory research

Biography

As an educational psychologist, my interests focus on two primary strands of research: a clinical foci on parenting education and engagement and an applied foci centralized around early childhood assessment, intervention and data-based decision making. In the area of parenting education I align my research with community based participatory research models and I have specific interest in improving parent engagement and child level outcomes for disadvantaged families through empowerment and evidence-based parenting practices. My work in this areas has growth through partnership with the Northside Achievement Zone.

My applied research focuses on practices and resources integral to early childhood multi-tiered systems of support. I contribute to the Nurture Me Alliance, a group of leading educational researchers committed to advancing early childhood multi-tiered systems of support. I lead the development of the multiple early childhood language and literacy assessments including co-authoring both the Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDIs) and the Individual Growth and Development Indicators- Espanol (S-IGDIs). My assessment and measurement work emphasizes the importance of robust assessment practices in early childhood and meaningful interpretation of student level data to information instructional decisions. These data-based decision are embedded in the IGDI-APEL and IGDI-APEL Espanol projects, where educators use technology to engage in a problem solving model to evaluate student data and apply interventions. Please visit our lab IGDILab to learn more about the IGDI Enterprise.

To support my work, I have received funding from the Institute of Educational Sciences (IES), private foundations, and non-profit organizations. I received my PhD from University of Minnesota, and prior to my graduate education, I worked as a preschool teacher and director as well as an early childhood special education teacher.

Currently, I am not accepting students to advise. However, if you are interested in educational psychology and the work that my lab engages in, we welcome all students to join our team.

Publications

Wackerle-Hollman, A. Durán, L., & Miranda, A* (in press). Early Literacy Skill Growth in Spanish-Speaking Children With and At Risk for Disabilities in Early Childhood. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 40(1).

Will, K.*, McConnell, S., Elmquist, M., Lease, E., & Wackerle-Hollman, A. (2019). Meeting in the Middle: Future Directions for Researchers to Support Educators’ Assessment Literacy and Data-Based Decision Making. Frontiers in Education. 4(106), 1-8 doi: 10.3389/feduc.2019.00106

Wackerle-Hollman, A., Durán, L., Brunner, S., Palma, J., Kohlmeier, T., & Rodriguez, M. C. (2019). Developing a Measure of Spanish Phonological Awareness for Preschool Age Children: Spanish Individual Growth and Development Indicators. Educational Assessment, 24(1), 33-56.

Durán, L., Wackerle-Hollman, A. K., Kohlmeier, T. L., Brunner, S. K., Palma, J., & Callard, C. H. (2019). Individual Growth and Development Indicators-Español: Innovation in the development of Spanish oral language general outcome measures. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 48, 155-172.

Kincaid, A.* McConnell, S. & Wackerle-Hollman, A. (2018). Assessing Early Literacy Growth in Preschoolers with Individual Growth and Development Indicators. Assessment for Effective Intervention. https://doi.org/10.1177/1534508418799173

Larson, A. & Wackerle-Hollman, A. (2018). The Words within the word Gap: Addressing the Need for Person-centric Approaches when Communicating with Families about Language Development. In C. Corr & E. Miller (Eds.) Young Exceptional Children Monograph Series #17: Maltreatment, Trauma, Poverty and Toxic Stress. Division of Early childhood of the Council of Exceptional Children.

Durán, L. & Wackerle-Hollman, A. (2018) Meeting the needs of young dual language learners in multi-tiered systems of support. In J. Carta & R. Miller-Young (Eds.) Multi-tiered systems of support for young children: A guide to Response to Intervention in Early Education. Brookes Publishing.

McConnell, S. R., & Wackerle-Hollman, A. (2016). Can we measure the transition to reading? Relations among General Outcome Measures of language and early literacy development from preschool to early elementary grades. AERA Open.

McConnell, S. R., Wackerle-Hollman, A. K., Roloff. T. A., & Rodriguez, M. C. (2015). Designing a measurement framework for Response to Intervention in early childhood programs. Journal of Early Intervention. 36(4), 263-280. DOI: 10.1177/1053815115578559

Rodriguez, M. I.* & Wackerle-Hollman, M. (2015). Bridging the Gap: Comprehension Individual Growth and Development Indicators—The Which One Doesn’t Belong Task. Assessment for Effective Intervention. 40(2), 96-98. DOI: 10.1177/1534508414556505

Wackerle-Hollman, A., Rodriguez, M. I.*, McConnell, S., Bradfield, T., & Rodriguez, M.C. (2015). Redefining individual growth and development indicators: Comprehension. Assessment for Effective Intervention. 40 (2), 89-85. DOI: 10.1177/1534508414551404.

Wackerle-Hollman, A., Schmitt, B.*, Bradfield, T., Rodriguez, M. C., & McConnell, S. (2014). Redefining individual growth and development indicators: Phonological awareness. Journal of Learning Disabilities. DOI: 10.1177/0022219413510181

Bradfield, T., Besner, A.*, Wackerle-Hollman, A., Rodgriguez, M. & McConnell, S. (2013). Redefining individual growth and development indicators: Oral Language. Assessment for Effective Intervention. DOI: 10.1177/1534508413496837

Carta, J. J., Greenwood, C. R., Goldstein, H., McConnell, S. R., Kaminski, R., Bradfield, T. A., Wackerle-Hollman, A., Linas, M., Guerrero, G., Kelley, E. & Atwater, J. (2015). Advances in multi-tiered systems of support for prekindergarten children: Lessons learned from 5 years of research and development from the Center for Response to Intervention in Early Childhood. In S. R. Jimerson, M. K. Burns & A. M. VanDerHeyden, The handbook of Response to Intervention: The science and practice of multi-tiered systems of support (2nd Ed.). New York: Springer.

McConnell, S. R., Bradfield, T., & Wackerle-Hollman, A. (2014). Universal early literacy screening. In R. Kettler, T. Glover, C. Albers & Feeney-Kettler (Eds.), Universal screening in educational settings: Identification, implications, and interpretation.

Presentations

Wackerle-Hollman, A. (2020). Integrated or Specialize Assessment? Paper presented as part of the symposium: Integrated or Specialized Interventions, Assessment and Professional Development: Is there tension between research and practice? At the Institute for Educational Sciences Principal Investigators Meeting, Washington DC.

Durán, L. & Wackerle-Hollman, A. (2019). The Quality and Quantity of Language Scaffolding in Spanish and English in Preschools Serving DLLs. Paper presented at the American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) Annual Conference, Orlando, FL.

Wackerle-Hollman, A. & Duran, L. (2019). Bilingual Preschoolers’ Performance on the Spanish and English Individual Growth and Development Indicators. Paper presented as part of the symposium: Measuring School Readiness Skills of Dual Language Learners: Development and Validation of Assessment Tools by Dr. Caroline Ebanks at the Society of Research on Child Development Bi-annual meeting. Baltimore, MD.

Buzhardt, J., Wackerle-Hollman, A., Walker, D., Greenwood, C., Jia, F., McConnell, S., Lease, E. Rodriguez, M., and Duran, L. (2019, March). The Effects of Technology that Supports the use of IGDIs for Data-driven Intervention & Decision-Making. Paper presented as part of the symposium: Use of Individual Growth and Development Indicators to Support Early Intervention and Early Learning chaired by Drs. Amy Sussman & Caroline Ebanks at the Society of Research on Child Development Bi-annual meeting. Baltimore, MD.

Hojnoski, R., Missall, K., Wackerle-Hollman, A. & McConnell, S. (2019, February). The devil is in the details: data-based decision making in preschool. Discussion presented at the annual conference for the National Association of School Psychologists, Atlanta, GA.

Wackerle-Hollman, A., Hojnoski, R., McConnell, S. & Missall, K. (2019, February). Using fluency and central tendency to understand early literacy performance. Paper presented at the annual conference for the National Association of School Psychologists, Atlanta, GA.

Buzhardt, J., Walker, D., Wackerle-Hollman, A. & McConnell, S. (2018, October). IGDIs to support multi-tiered systems of support: Advances for use in 0-3 and preschool settings. Paper presented at the Council for Exceptional Children-Division of Early Childhood Annual Conference. Orlando, FL.

Projects

Currently funded IGDI projects
IGDILab website

English Progress Monitoring IGDIs (2016-2020): Developing Individual Growth and Development Indicators as Progress Monitoring Tools

Spanish Progress Monitoring IGDIs (2016-2020): Expanding Early Language and Literacy Spanish Individual Growth and Development Indicators to Monitor Progress

3-year-old IGDI Expansion: Expanding Individual Growth and Development Indicators of Language and Early Literacy for Universal Screening in Multi-Tiered Systems of Support with Three-Year-Olds

IGDI-APEL (2014-2018)

Spanish IGDIs (2012-2017)

Currently funded parent education projects

Project INTERFACE Incorporating Narratives to Engage and Retain Families through Action, Cultural Connection and Empowerment

  • Northside Achievement Zone Family Academy