John Smith, Ph.D.

John Smith

Professor of Elementary Education
Graduate and Undergraduate Faculty
Appointed 1988
Email: john.smith@usu.edu
Phone (435) 797-0388
Office: Jones Education Building, Room 388

Education

  • Ph.D. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1987.
  • Major: Curriculum and Instruction (Reading/Language Arts emphasis)
  • Minor: Administrative Endorsement
  • M.A. The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1980.
  • Major: Elementary Curriculum
  • B.S. Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, 1975.
  • Major: Elementary Education

Professional Experience

Professor

  • Utah State University, Department of Elementary Education, Logan, Utah, 1988 to the present. Emphasis in reading and writing instruction and research.
  • Took a one-year leave to write literacy-related federal Reading First and Early Reading First grants for state, local, and other agencies in Utah, Mississippi, and Puerto Rico, 2004.
  • Taught first-grade at Wilson Elementary School, Logan, Utah, during the 1995-96 school year to conduct classroom research and update teaching skills.

District Reading Coordinator

  • Chapel Hill - Carrboro, NC, City Schools, 1985 - 1988. Responsible for the development and supervision of the district's Chapter 1 Reading Program. In May, 1988, this program was recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as being an Exemplary Chapter 1Program.

Reading Teacher

  • Frank Porter Graham Elementary School, Chapel Hill - Carrboro, NC, City Schools, 1983 - 85
  • Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center, Chapel Hill, NC, 1983 - 85. Summer reading program for low-income at-risk students.

Graduate Teaching Assistant

  • School of Education, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1981- 83. Collaborated with cooperating teachers on supervision and evaluation of student teachers.

Teacher

  • Vista Elementary School, 5th grade, Granite School District, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1980 - 81.
  • Sunrise Elementary School, 2nd grade, Jordan School District, Sandy, Utah, 1977 - 80.

Teaching Assistant

  • Department of Elementary Education, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, 1974-75.

Teaching

  • Selected as an Outstanding Professor by The Mortar Board National Senior Honor Society, March 2003.
  • USU Independent Study and Distance Education Division Teaching Honor, December, 2001.
  • College of Education Teacher of the Year at Utah State University, Spring, 1991.
  • Department of Elementary Education Teacher of the Year at Utah State University, Spring, 1991.

Research/Scholarship

  • USU Department of Elementary Education Scholar/Researcher of the Year, 2006.

Books/Chapters

  • Smith, J.A. & Read, S. (in preparation). Assessment and Intervention for Struggling Readers and Writers: A Model for Differentiated Instruction. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.
  • Smith, J.A. & Read, S. (2005). Early Literacy Instruction: A Comprehensive Framework for Teaching Reading and Writing, K-3. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.
  • Reutzel, D.R., Camperell, K., & Smith, John A. (2002). Hitting the Wall: Improving Instruction for Struggling Comprehenders. In Linda B. Gambrell, Cathy Collins-Block, and Michael Pressley (Eds.) Comprehension Instruction: Rethinking Research, Theory, and Classroom Practice. Co-published and distributed by International Reading Association (Newark, DE) and Jossey-Bass (New York).

Funded Grants

  • 2005. $1,000,000. Member of the research team that received an Institute of Education Sciences (U.S. department of Education) Teacher Quality grant to investigate connections among teacher knowledge, classroom instruction, and student reading achievement.
  • 2004. $99,410. Fund for the Improvement of Education federal Grant for the Logan, Utah City School District Early Reading Assistance Program. U.S. Department of Education.
  • 2003. $3,684,000 Reading First Utah State six-year sub-grant for the Ogden City School District, Utah State Office of Education.
  • 2003. $5,999,598 Reading First Utah State six-year sub-grant for the Granite School District, Utah State Office of Education.
  • 2003. $3,267,456 three-year federal Early Reading First grant for the San Juan, Puerto Rico School District with Ray Reutzel and Parker Fawson. U.S. Department of Education. This grant was ranked 6th-best nationally and was one of only 30 funded from 750 submitted.

    • Refereed Publications and Conference Presentations

  • Professional publications and presentations on a variety of reading-related topics.

Professional Service

  • Executive Board Member, Business Manager & Treasurer, College Reading Association. Requested by the CRA Executive Board and affirmed by the CRA Board of Directors in 2006 to serve a second term, 2002-2008.
  • Editorial Board for the CRA Yearbook, 2005-
  • Editorial Board for Reading Research and Instruction, 2002-
  • Editorial Board for The Reading Teacher, 1992-94, 2003-2009.
  • UCIRA Conference Chair for the 2000 conference of the Utah Council of the International Reading Association. Over 1,000 educators attended this two-day conference at the Salt Palace Convention Center that featured 62 presentations, a dozen national speakers and children’s authors, and many Utah higher education faculty and K-12 classroom teachers.
  • President, Utah Association of Teacher Educators, 1993-94.

Consulting

  • Many consulting projects for various education agencies including the Utah State Office of Education (Reading First Technical Assistant, Reading Excellence Act Reading Coach) and many on-going presentations to school districts.

Upcoming Deadlines

  • October 1
    Apply to the Teacher Education Program

  • October 1
    Apply for Student Teaching