Mary Brownell 

Professor and Director, Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform Center

Mary Brownell

Phone

352-273-4261

Email

Address

PO Box 117050
Gainesville, FL 32611

Connect

About

Mary Brownell, Ph.D., is a Professor of Special Education at the University of Florida and Director of the Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability and Reform (CEEDAR Center), an OSEP funded project designed to improve the preparation of teachers and leaders working with students with disabilities. Dr. Brownell has secured multiple grants (totaling over 42 million dollars) from the U.S. Department of Education (U.S. DOE), Office of Special Education Programs and Institute for Education Sciences to support research and technical assistance aimed at improving teaching quality for students with disabilities. Specifically, she has studied issues related to teacher education, teacher assessment, professional development, and teacher attrition. Dr. Brownell's research efforts have culminated in numerous refereed publications, book chapters, books, and presentations. She and her colleagues edited the first Handbook of Research on Special Education Teacher Preparation, and she recently authored a chapter for the prestigious Handbook for Research on Teaching, published by the American Educational Research Association. She has been recognized nationally for her leadership and research, winning the TED Pearson Award for Excellence in Teacher Education, the Division for Research Hallahan and Kauffman Distinguished Researcher Award, and the David Imig Teacher Achievement Award for lifetime achievement in teacher education. Dr. Brownell is also a devoted teacher and doctoral student mentor. She has received two awards for her undergraduate teaching and a university wide award for mentoring doctoral students. For relaxation, Dr. Brownell enjoys dancing, weight lifting, hiking, long walks on the beach, and time with family.

Affiliations

  • School of Special Education School Psychology and Early Childhood Studies
  • Education Policy Research Center

Research Interests

Learning Disabilities / RTI, Professional Development, Reading, Technology

Education

  • Ph. D. - University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, Special Education, 1990
  • M. A. - Texas Woman's University, Denton, Texas, Music Therapy, 1982
  • B. A. - Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Music Therapy, Music Education, 1979

Professional Appointments

  • Professor, Department of Special Education, University of Florida, 2005-present
  • Director, Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability and Reform (CEEDAR Center), Department of Special Education, University of Florida, 2013-present
  • Director, National Center to Inform Policy and Practice in Special Education Professional Development, 2007-present
  • Irving and Rose Fien Endowed Professor in Education, 2008-2012

Selected Grants

Validating an Observation Protocol for the Evaluation of Special Educators

Role
  • Co-PI
Funding Agency
  • U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences
Project Period
  • April 2015
Award Amount
  • $1,200,000

Project STEEP: Studying Teacher Effectiveness, Education, and Policy

Role
  • PI
Funding Agency
  • U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services
Project Period
  • October 2014
Award Amount
  • $1,250,000

Collaboration for Educator Development, Accountability and Reform: CEDAR Center

Role
  • PI
Funding Agency
  • U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services
Project Period
  • January 2013
Award Amount
  • $25,000,000

Using Multimedia to Improve Middle School Science and Special Education Teachers' Use of Evidence-Based Vocabulary Practices, and the Impact on Vocabulary Performance of Students with Disabilities

Funding Agency
  • U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences
Project Period
  • September 2012
Award Amount
  • $400,000

Research on Quality and Educating Special Education Teachers (Project ReQuEST)

Role
  • PI
Funding Agency
  • U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services
Project Period
  • April 2009
Award Amount
  • $800,000

Project LITERACY: Literacy Intervention in Teacher Education for Reaching All Children and Youth

Funding Agency
  • U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs
Project Period
  • January 2008
Award Amount
  • $800,000

National Center to Inform Policy and Practice in Special Education Professional Development

Role
  • PI
Funding Agency
  • U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services
Project Period
  • October 2007
Award Amount
  • $2,500,000

The Influence of Collaborative Professional Development Groups and Coaching on the Literacy Instruction of Upper Elementary Special Education Teachers

Role
  • PI
Funding Agency
  • U.S. Department of Education, Institute for Education Sciences
Project Period
  • July 2007
Award Amount
  • $2,049,000

Selected Publications

  • Sindelar, P. T., McCray, E., Brownell, M. T., & Lignugaris/Kraft, B. (2014). Handbook of research on special education teacher preparation. New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Billingsley, B., Brownell, M. T., Israel, M., & Kamman, M. (2013). The new special educator's survival guide. San Francisco, CA: Josey-Bass.
  • Brownell, M. T., Crockett, J., Smith, S., & Griffin, C. (2012). Using evidence and collaborative inquiry as the foundation for responsive inclusive instruction. Invited book in a series edited by Steven Graham and Karen Harris for Guilford Press.
  • Brownell, M. T., Chard, D., Benedict, A., & Lignugaris/Kraft, B. (in press). Preparing general and special education teachers for response to intervention: A practice-based approach. In P. Pullen & M. Kennedy (Eds.), Handbook of response to intervention and multi-tiered instruction. New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Klingner, J. K., Brownell, M. T., Mason, L. H., Sindelar, P. T., Benedict, A. E. with Griffin, G. G., Lane, K., Israel, M., Oakes, W. P., Menzies, H. M., Germer, K., & Park, Y (in press). Teaching students with special needs in the new millenium. In D. Gitomer & C. Bell (Eds.), Handbook for research on teaching (5th ed.).
  • Kiely, M. T., Brownell, M. T., Lauterbach, A. A., & Benedict, A. E. (2015). Teachers' beliefs about students with special needs and inclusion. In H. Fives & M. G. Gill (Eds.), International handbook of research on teachers' beliefs (pp. 475-491). New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Brownell, M. T., & Leko, M. (2014). Preparing special educators to teach literacy: A review of the research. In P. T. Sindelar, E. McCray, M. T. Brownell, & B. Lignugaris/Kraft (Eds.), Handbook of research on special education teacher preparation (pp. 255-270). New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Brownell, M. T., Steinbrecher, T., Kimerling, J., Park, Y., Bae, J., & Benedict, A. (2014). Dimensions of teacher quality in general and special education. In P. T. Sindelar, E. McCray, M. T. Brownell, & B. Lignugaris/Kraft, (Eds.), Handbook of research on special education teacher preparation (pp. 423-444). New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Sindelar, P. T., McLeskey, J., & Brownell, M. T. (2012). Stanley Deno's contributions to teacher education scholarship and practice. In C. A. Espin, K. L. McMaster, S. Rose, & M. M. Wayman (Eds.), A measure of success: The influence of curriculum-based measurement on education (pp. 261-264). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
  • Brownell, M. T., Lauterbach, A., Benedict, A., Bettini, E. F., Murphy, K., & Stephens, J. (2012). Preparing teachers to effectively deliver reading instruction and behavioral supports in response to intervention frameworks. In B. Cook, M., Tankersley, & T. Landrum (Eds.), Advances in learning and behavioral disabilities (Vol. 25, pp. 247-277). Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing.