Alisha Wackerle-Hollman
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Associate Director of Translational Research
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56 E River Rd
357 Ed Sci Bldg - 612-624-3943
- wacke020@umn.edu
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
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.
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.
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
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