CEC-DR Council for Exceptional Children Division of Research

The CEC-Division for Research was pleased to present the fourth annual Distinguished Early Career Award to Dr. Rollanda E. O'Connor at the 2002 CEC Annual Convention in New York. Dr. O'Connor received the award at the CEC-DR reception. The award of $1,000, co-sponsored by the Donald D. Hammill Foundation, recognizes an individual who has made outstanding scientific contributions, in basic and/or applied research, within the first ten years following completion of the doctoral degree. CEC-DR created this award in recognition of the critical role of research in current and future practice in special education. CEC-DR's award committee was chaired by Dr. Karen Harris (University of Maryland) and its members were Dr. Lynn Fuchs (Vanderbilt University), Dr. Marty Kaufman (University of Oregon), Dr. Donald MacMillan (UC-Riverside), and Dr. Sam Odom (Indiana University).

Dr. O'Connor is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Instruction and Learning, Program in Special Education, University of Pittsburgh. She received her Ph.D. in Special Education and Reading at the University of Washington in 1992. Before completing her doctoral degree, she had taught in both special and general education for over 15 years. Since receiving her doctoral degree in 1992, Dr. O'Connor has become a leading scholar in the area of reading disabilities; her work has focused on both prevention and intervention. Her research has had a strong impact locally, nationally, and internationally.

One strand of Dr. O'Connor's work has focused on the role of phonological awareness in the acquisition of beginning reading abilities. Before the 1990s, there was a lack of empirical research regarding the effectiveness of phonological awareness based interventions with children with disabilities or poor preparatory skills. Dr. O'Connor was among the first researchers to study the effectiveness of such interventions among these children, and established that intervention in phonological awareness and letter sounds skills significantly and meaningfully improves the performance of many children with reading disabilities. Dr. O'Connor is currently investigating the effects of additional layers of intervention in literacy for children with reading disabilities or difficulties at crucial times in kindergarten and first grade, when these children are not responding adequately to whole group instruction. She is also exploring applications of this work to instruction in reading comprehension for students in grades 3-6. She has received over one million dollars in funding from the U. S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, to support her work.

Dr. O'Connor has published two books for teachers and over 20 articles in leading journals, including Journal of Special Education, Journal of Educational Psychology, Scientific Studies of Reading, Exceptional Children, and others. She serves as an Associate Editor for American Educational Research Journal, and is on the editorial boards of severaljournals, including Journal of Special Education and Journal of Educational Psychology.