Alisha Wackerle-Hollman is a research associate and project coordinator for the Center for Response to Intervention in Early Childhood (CRtIEC) at CEED. CRtIEC is federally funded multi-institution center examining the feasibility of adopting a Response to Intervention (RtI) framework in early education settings. As a part of this work, Dr. Wackerle-Hollman co-cordinates the research and development of a new battery of Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDIs) that will be used as the framework for decision making within an Early Childhood RtI model. Dr. Wackerle-Hollman also provides training and consultation on the use of IGDIs within problem solving models. Additionally, Dr. Wackerle-Hollman works on the Promise Neighborhood Research Consortium (PNRC) in the areas of measurement and web-based technology. The PNRC will provide a network of support services for communities who are applicants for the Promise Neighborhood Grants or who aspire to replicate those models used in the Harlem Children's Zone that produce positive outcomes.

Dr. Wackerle-Hollman research interests include early literacy development and assessment, the transition of research to practice, assessment and intervention for children with autism, children's literature and school readiness.

Before coming to the University of Minnesota, Dr. Wackerle-Hollman worked as a preschool teacher and director as well as a teacher of early childhood special education. Alisha received both her Master of Arts and doctorate in Educational Psychology from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Wackerle-Hollman's dissertation focused on examining the relationship between student performance, progress monitoring and consultation.

Selected Presentations

1. Wackerle-Hollman, A., Duran, L., Rodriguez, M., & McConnell, S. (2013, May 16-17). Spanish-English bilingual language development and implications for assessment. Presented at the 2013 Inaugural Bilingual Research Conference in Houston, Texas.

2. Wackerle-Hollman, A., McConnell, S., Duran, L., & Rodriguez, M. (2013, April 20). Spanish-English Bilingual Development and Implications for Assessment. Presented at 2013 Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting in Seattle, Washington.

3. McConnell, S. R., Bradfield, T. A., & Wackerle-Hollman, A. (2013, March). Individual Growth and Development Indicators in universal screening and progress monitoring for early childhood Response to Intervention. Laptop showcase at annual meeting of Institute of Education Sciences Principal Investigators, Washington D.C

4. McConnell, S. R., Seiwert, M., Wackerle-Hollman, A., & Bradfield, T. A. (2012, October). Early childhood in Promise Neighborhoods: Northside Achievement Zone's Early Childhood Action Team. Spotlight symposium presented at the annual meetings of the Division for Early Childhood, Council on Exceptional Children, Minneapolis MN.

5. Wackerle-Hollman, A., Bradfield, T., McConnell, S., & Spencer, T. (2012, October). Measuring a response to intervention model in early childhood: Examining assessments for identification, decision making and progress monitoring. Poster presentation at the annual meetings of the Division for Early Childhood (DEC), Council on Exceptional Children, Minneapolis, MN.

6. Bradfield, T., Wackerle-Holman, A., & McConnell, S. (2012, September 21). Post-summit workshop: Using individual growth and development indicators. Presented at Center for Response to Intervention in Early Childhood (CrTIEC) 4th Annual Summit on RTI in Early Childhood, Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico.

7. McConnell, S., Wackerle-Holman, A., & Bradfield, T. (2012, September 19). IGDIs and beyond: Measurement and decision-making for language and literacy RTI efforts in early childhood education. Presented at Center for Response to Intervention in Early Childhood (CrTIEC) 4th Annual Summit on RTI in Early Childhood, Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico.

8. Duran, L., Wackerle-Holman, A., & McConnell, S. (2012, September 19). All new Spanish-IGDIs: Bilingual measurement considerations and S-IGDI development. A joint presentation by the University of Utah and the University of Minnesota. Presented at Center for Response to Intervention in Early Childhood (CrTIEC) 4th Annual Summit on RTI in Early Childhood, Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico.

9. Potter, L., Clayton, K., Rodriguez, M., Schmitt, B., Wackerle-Hollman, A., & McConnell, S. (2012, February). IGDIs 2.0: Practitioner judgments of feasibility, validity and functionality. Poster presented at the annual meetings of the National Association of School Psychologists, Philadelphia PA.

10. McConnell, S., Bradfield, T., and Wackerle-Hollman, A. (2011, Sept. 26). Using IGDIs for identifying children for tiered early literacy and language support. Presentation at the 3rd Annual RTI Early Childhood Summit, Santa Ana Pueblo, NM.

11. Albano, A. D., Rodriguez, M. C., McConnell, S., Bradfield, T., & Wackerle-Hollman, A. (2011, April). Scaling with measures of early literacy. Paper presented at the meeting of the National Council for Measurement in Education, New Orleans, LA.

12. Bradfield, T., Wackerle-Hollman, A., McConnell, S., Rodriguez, M. C. & Albano, A. D. (2011, April). Construct identification to support early literacy measurement. Paper presented at the meeting of the National Council for Measurement in Education, New Orleans, LA.

13. Rodriguez, M. C., Albano, A. D., McConnell, S., Wackerle-Hollman, A. & Bradfield, T. (2011, April). Standard setting with innovative measures of early literacy: Contrasting Groups. Paper presented at the meeting of the National Council for Measurement in Education, New Orleans, LA.

14. Wackerle-Hollman, A., Bradfield, T., McConnell, S., Albano, A. D., & Rodriguez, M. C. (2011, April). Task development and item analysis in innovative measures of early literacy. Paper presented at the meeting of the National Council for Measurement in Education, New Orleans, LA.

15. Bradfield.T. & Wackerle-Hollman, A. (2010, November). Considering Tier 1: Using the CLASS to understand classroom performance. Presentation at the "Minnesota's Got CLASS" conference, St. Paul, MN.

16. Wackerle-Hollman, A. & Bradfield, T. (October, 2010). Developing a new set of early literacy and language IGDIs. Presentation at the Center for Response to Intervention in Early Childhood Second Annual Summit, Kansas City, MO.

17. McConnell, S., Rodriguez, M., Albano, A., Bradfield, T., & Wackerle-Hollman, A. (October 12, 2010). Using Teachers' Judgments of Individual Student Performance for Identification Assessment in Early Childhood RTI. Second Annual Summit on Response to Intervention in Early Childhood, Kansas City, KS.

18. McConnell, S., Missall, K., Rodriguez, M., & Wackerle-Hollman, A. (February 25-27, 2010). Monitoring Progress on Progress Monitoring: Recent Innovations in the Design and Evaluation of Individual Growth and Development Indicators. Panel presentation at the 2010 Conference for Research Innovations in Early Intervention (CRIEI), San Diego, CA. On behalf of the CRTiEC project.