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. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.