College of Education and Human Development

Department of Educational Psychology

Amy Kunkel

  • Assistant teaching professor, special education licensure coordinator, ABS licensure program lead

Amy Kunkel

Areas of interest

  • Effective preparation of future teachers of special and general education
  • Use of technology to augment learning and academic intervention
  • Dissemination of effective practices through teaching and meta-analysis of educational research
  • Functional assessment of behavior to fully support student engagement and communication
  • Multi-tiered systems of support and data-based decision making in K-12 education
Degrees

PhD, University of Minnesota

Biography

I serve as the licensure coordinator for the Special Education Program in the Department of Educational Psychology. I am also the Licensure Program Lead for the Academic Behavior Strategist (ABS) license in Special Education. I teach courses to both graduate and undergraduate students planning to teach in general and special education.

I have been involved in the field of special education for over 10 years, working with a diverse population of students with learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorders, emotional/behavioral disorders, other health disabilities, traumatic brain injury, and physical disabilities. I have a K-6 elementary education license, special education licenses in learning disabilities and emotional/behavioral disorders, and a certificate in autism spectrum disorders. After teaching elementary special education for several years, I served as an interventionist at the middle school level, working with kids not identified for special education, but at-risk in the area of reading. During my tenure at the University of Minnesota, I worked on a leadership training fellowship implementing Response to Intervention in several schools in the Minneapolis Public School district.

Courses I teach

  • EPSY 5613: Foundations in Special Education
  • EPSY 5616: Behavior Analytic Problem Solving and Classroom Management
Publications

Burns, M., Egan, A., Kunkel, A., McComas, J., Peterson, M., Rahn, N., & Wilson, J. (2013). Training for generalization and maintenance in RTI implementation: Front-loading for sustainability. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 28(2), 81-88. doi:10.1111/ldrp.12009

Jitendra, A., Peterson-Brown, S., Lein, A. E., Zaslofsky, A. F., Kunkel, A. K., Jung, P. G., Egan, A. (2013). Teaching Mathematical Word Problem Solving: The Quality of Evidence for Strategy Instruction Priming the Problem Structure. Journal of Learning Disabilities. doi: 10.1177/0022219413487408

Kunkel, A. K. (2015). The effects of computer-assisted instruction in reading: A meta-analysis. (Ph.D., University of Minnesota). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses.

Kunkel, A. K. (in preparation). Effects of computer-assisted instruction on the decoding skills of fourth grade struggling readers.

McMaster, K., Kunkel, A., Shin, J., Jung, P.G., & Lembke, E. (in press). Early writing intervention: A best evidence synthesis. Journal of Learning Disabilities.

Peterson, M., Brandes, D., Kunkel, A., Wilson, J., Rahn, N. L., Egan, A., & McComas, J. (2014). Teaching letter sounds to kindergarten English language learners using incremental rehearsal. Journal of School Psychology, 52, 97-107. doi: http://dx.doi.org.ezp3.lib.umn.edu/10.1016/j.jsp.2013.11.001.

Rahn, N. L., Wilson, J., Egan, A., Brandes, D., Kunkel, A., Peterson, M., & McComas, J. (2015). Using incremental rehearsal to teach letter sounds to English language learners. Education and Treatment of Children, 38, 71-92.

Presentations

Kunkel, A., McMaster, K. L., Shin, J., Jung, P. & Lembke, L. (2016). Early writing intervention: A best-evidence synthesis. Council for Learning Disabilities 2016 Conference, San Antonio, TX.

Shin, J. & Kunkel, A. (April, 2015). Effective interventions in early writing: What does research say? Council for Exceptional Children 2014 Convention and Expo, San Diego, CA

Brandes, D., Jung, P. G., Shin, J., Kunkel, A. K., & Poch, A. (March, 2014). Gender differences in performance on curriculum-based measures of beginning writing. Graduate Student Research Day Conference, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.

Kunkel, A. K. (April, 2014). The effectiveness of computer-assisted instruction in reading: A meta-analysis of current research. Council for Exceptional Children 2014 Convention and Expo, Philadelphia, PA

Jitendra, A., Peterson-Brown, S., Lein, A. E., Zaslofsky, A. F., Kunkel, A. K., Jung, P. G., Egan, A. (April, 2014). Teaching Mathematical Word Problem Solving: The Quality of Evidence for Strategy Instruction Priming the Problem Structure. AERA 2014 Convention, Philadelphia, PA

McMaster, K. & Kunkel, A. K. (November, 2013). Are my students making progress? Using data to individualize reading instruction. Saturday Scholars – Working in the Achievement Gap, University of Minnesota, MN

Busch, T., Kunkel, A. K. (September, 2013). Scaling-up RTI: Training school teams to use the data. Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders (CCBD) Conference 2013, Chicago, IL

Egan, A., Kunkel, A., & Rahn, N. L. (April, 2013). Teaching letter sounds to English language learners using incremental rehearsal. Council for Exceptional Children 2013 Convention and Expo, San Antonio, TX.

Kunkel, A. K. (April, 2013). Using computer-assisted instruction in reading intervention. Council for Exceptional Children 2013 Convention and Expo, San Antonio, TX.

Wilson, J., Kunkel, A., Rahn, N. L. (February, 2013). Teaching letter sounds to kindergarten English language learners using incremental rehearsal. Minnesota Council for Exceptional Children (MNCEC) 2013 Conference, Bloomington, MN.

Wilson, J., Rahn, N. L., Peterson, M., Kunkel, A., Egan., A., & Brandes, D. (March, 2012). Teaching letter sounds to English language learners using incremental rehearsal. Graduate Student Research Day Conference, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.