College of Education Professor JoBeth Allen Receives National Public School Service Award, $10,000 Prize for Research
 


University of Georgia education professor JoBeth Allen, a co-director of UGA’s collaborative partnership with Clarke County Schools and the Athens-Clarke community, has received a national award for her service work with public schools.  

Allen, a professor of language and literacy education, received the first John Chorlton Manning Public School Service Award from the International Reading Association. The award recognizes Allen’s work integrating teacher preparation, professional development and related research with the work of public schools, classrooms, teachers and students. The award, which includes a $10,000 prize, was presented at the recent IRA conference in San Antonio.  

Allen conducts collaborative action research with teachers who are exploring issues of educational equity and social justice in relation to literacy teaching and learning. She co-directs the Red Clay Writing Project (www.coe.uga.edu/rcwp/ ) and The Partnership for Community Learning Centers (www2.clarke.k12.ga.us/ccsduga/) – a comprehensive local school reform initiative which aims to improve student learning.  

Her six books include three collaborations with Betty Shockley Bisplinghoff and Barbara Michalove: Engaging Children, Engaging Families, and Engaging Teachers, as well as Class Actions: Teaching for Social Justice in Elementary and Middle School, written with local educators in a study group, Literacy Education for a Democratic Society. Collaborations with teacher researchers are also published in professional journals including Reading Research Quarterly, The Journal of Literacy Research, Language Arts, The Reading Teacher, and Reading and Writing Quarterly.

Allen received her Ed.D. from the University of Kansas in 1982, taught at Kansas State University for four years, and joined the UGA faculty in 1986.

Monday, May 16, 2005  

Writer: Katherine Dodd, 706/542-5889, katdodd@uga.edu
Contact: JoBeth Allen, 706/542-4528, jobethal@uga.edu