About

Dr. Morris Mathews is an Assistant Professor in the School of Special Education, School Psychology, and Early Childhood Studies at the University of Florida. She has a Ph.D. in Special Education from the University of Virginia. Following her doctoral studies, Dr. Morris Mathews was a post-doctoral research associate at the Boston University Wheelock College of Education and Human Development. Her research focuses on special educators' experiences of professional socialization-the process by which individuals integrate the knowledge, norms, and values of a profession into their identity-and how this process influences their professional practice. Using multiple methods, she examines professional socialization across settings including teacher preparation, induction, and the formal and informal interactions that take place in schools as organizations. In these contexts, her research considers how organizational factors are associated with special educators' understanding of their role, relationships with colleagues, and the quality of the instruction provided to students with disabilities.

Research Interests

Mentoring, Mixed Methods, Opportunities to Learn, Principals / Assistant Principals, Qualitative Research, Teacher Evaluation, Teacher Quality

Education

• Ph. D. - University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, Special Education, 2018
• M. A. Ed. - The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, Special Education, 2004
• B. A. - Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, History, English, Secondary Education, 2000

Professional Appointments

• Assistant Professor, University of Florida (2020 - Present)
• Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Special Education, Boston University Wheelock College of Education and Human Development (2018 - 2020)

Activities and Honors

• Teacher Education and Special Education (2019 - present)
• 2019 Division of Research Council for Exceptional Children Student Research Award Mixed Methods, Vision as professional socialization in special education teacher preparation
• 2018 Teacher Education Division of the Council for Exceptional Children Dissertation Award, Examining opportunities to learn in special education teacher preparation
• 2017 Council for Learning Disabilities "Must Read" Award, Becoming critical consumers of research: Understanding replication (Mathews, Hirsch, & Therrien; October, 2017)
• Assistant Chair, Teacher Education Division of the Council for Exceptional Children Diversity Caucus (Fall 2019 - present)

Selected Publications

• Mathews, H. M. & Cohen, J. (2019). Explicit instruction: A brief review of what we know and next directions for research. In T. L. Good & M. McCaslin (Eds.), The Routledge Encyclopedia of Education. London: Routledge.
• Stark, K., Morris Mathews, H., Bettini, E., & Jones, N.D. (in press). The urgent need for special education instructional leadership. Invited chapter for P. Youngs & J. Kim (Eds.), Developing Principal Leadership in a Changing Policy Landscape.
• Morris Mathews, H., Stark, K. R., Jones, N. D., Brownell, M. T., & Bell, C. A. (2020). Danielson's Framework for Teaching: Convergence and divergence with conceptions of effectiveness in special education. Journal of Learning Disabilities.
• Billingsley, B., Bettini, E., Mathews, H. M., & McLeskey, J. (2020). Improving working conditions to support special educators' effectiveness: A call for leadership. Invited submission to special issue of Teacher Education and Special Education.
• Cohen, J., Hutt, E., Berlin, R., Mathews, H. M., McGraw, J., & Gottlieb, J. (2020). Sense making and professional identity in the implementation of edTPA. Journal of Teacher Education, 71, 9-23.
• Hirsch, S. E., MacSuga-Gage, A. S., Ennis, R. P., Mathews, H. M., Rice, K., & Marcus, K. (2020). Using videos to promote positive behavioral interventions and supports: A qualitative study. Journal of Special Education Technology, 35, 76-86.
• Kennedy, M. J., Rodgers, W. J., Romig, J. E., Mathews, H. M., & Peeples, K., (2018). Introducing the content acquisition podcast professional development (CAP-PD) process: Supporting vocabulary instruction for inclusive middle school science teachers. Teacher Education and Special Education, 41, 140-157.
• Mathews, H. M., Hirsch, S. E., & Therrien, W. J. (2018). Becoming a critical consumer of research: Understanding replicatio