Marissa Pilger Suhr

My research focuses on studying the adoption and effective implementation of multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) in reading for elementary students with or at risk for reading difficulties from historically marginalized communities, and developing and testing evidence-based programs and practices to address these barriers. This focus is shaped by my training in special education and school psychology and experiences working as a special education teaching assistant, literacy interventionist, and instructional coach. My work is shaped by an implementation science lens and centers around three intersecting lines of inquiry: the development and testing of evidence-based reading interventions to support elementary school students with or at risk for reading disabilities, scaling up of evidence-based programs and practices within MTSS in reading, and data-based decision making within the context of MTSS.

I have secured as PI $670 thousand in funding to support my research, and have served as key personnel on several federally funded grants supported by the U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences, Office of Special Education Programs, and the National Science Foundation. I also have experience providing literacy-related professional development and technical assistance to schools, districts, and state leaders through my work on the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education-funded National Center on Improving Literacy (NCIL). My work has been published in journals such as Exceptional Children, the Journal of School Psychology, and the Journal of Special Education Technology, and I have presented at over 50 conferences and professional development workshops.