Sarah McCarthey

Activities & Honors

• Distinguished Senior Scholar, Bureau of Educational Research, 2012-2013
• Graduate Mentoring Award, Graduate Mentoring Award, College of Education, 2011-2012
• Editorial Board Member, Editorial Board Member, Journal of Second Language Writing, 2009-2012
• Hardie Fellow, Bureau of Educational Research, 2009-2010
• Co-editor with Mark Dressman and Paul Prior, National Council of Teachers of English, Research in the Teaching of English, 2007-2012
• Editorial Board Member, Written Communication, 2006-2012
• best journal article of 2005, $1000 award for best jounral article, Journal of Second Language Writing, 2006-
• Assistant Editor, Harris, T. l., & Hodges, R. E. (in preparation). The Literacy Dictionary: The vocabulary of reading and writing, 2nd edition). Newark, DE, International Reading Association, 2002-2004
• Faculty Fellow, Bureau of Educational Research, 2002-2003
• Member, Editorial Board, National Reading Conference, 2001-2004
• Distinguished Scholar, College of Education, 2001-
• Associate Editor, The New Advocate, 2000-2003
• Editorial Board Member, Editorial Board, Reading Research Quarterly, Reading Research Quarterly, 1999-2007
• Member, Editorial Board, Journal of Literacy Studies, Journal of Literacy Studies, 1999-2002
• Editorial Board Member, Editorial Board, Elementary School Journal, 1997-2008
• Division K, Young Researchers Award, American Educational Research Association, 1997-

Research Statement

Sarah McCarthey's current focus is on the impact of professional development on teachers' writing instruction. Funded by a Hardie Grant, Sarah and two graduate students collected data on 20 teachers' writing instruction, philosophies of writing, and perceptions of professional development. in her work investigating teachers' attitudes towards writing and their writing instruction within policy contexts such as NCLB, she has identified trends in writing instruction including the implementation of writer's workshop, genre-based instruction, and skills approaches. She has also documented the importance of access to high-quality professional devleopment for teachers to make changes in their writing instruction.

Sarah is P. I. on the project "u-learn.net: An anywhere/anytime formative assessment and learning feedback environment" funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, Small Business Innovation Research Program. This project corresponds with her work as a consultant on the Assess-As-you-Go Project with Bill Cope as P.I. The projects focus on  innovation in assessment in writing as students engage in writing and peer review in technology environments.

Sarah was co-editor with Mark Dressman and Paul Prior of Research in the Teaching of English, a premier journal in the field of literacy, between 2008-2013. She is also a co-investigator of the University of Illinois Writing Project with Paul Prior (Writing Studies) and Scott Filkins (Champaign Unit #4). The project brings together local teachers to improve writing instruction in grades k-12.

Grants

• Co-Principal Investigator, Assessing Complex Performance: A Postdoctoral Training Program Researching Students Writing and Assessment in Digital Workspaces, Institute of Education Sciences, 2011-2014
• Principal Investigator, U-learn.net, Phases 1 & 2, U.S. Department of Education (Common Ground Publishing LLC), 2010-2012
• Senior Personnel, The Assess-As-You-Go Writing Assistant: A Student Work Environment That Brings Together Formative and Summative Assessment, Institute of Education Sciences, 2009-2013
• Co-Principal Investigator, Research in the Teaching of English, National Council of Teachers of English, 2007-2013
• Principal Investigator, English Language Learners' Identity Constructions as Writers, Campus Research Board, 2003-2003
• Principal Investigator, English Language Learners' Identity Constructions as Writers, Bureau of Educational Research, 2002-2003
• Principal Investigator, English Language Learners' Identity Constructions as Writers, Campus Research Board, 2002-2003

Publications

• McCarthey, S. J., & Mkhize, D. (2013). Teachers' orientations towards writing instruction. Journal of Writing Research, 4 (4).
• McCarthey, S. J. ( 2012). Understanding ecologies of writing in multiple settings. Special Issue of Pedagogies: An International Journal, 7 (3), 261-267.
• McCarthey, S. J., & Woodard, R., & Kang, G. (2012). Access and perceptions of professional development in writing. In C. Bazerman et al.  (Eds). International advances in writing research: Cultures, places, measures. The WAC Clearinghouse (pp. 41-59).
• Woodard, R., Magnifico, A., & McCarthey, S. J. (2013). Supporting Teacher Metacognition about Formative Assessment in Online Writing Environments. E-Learning and Digital Media, 10, (4).
• McCarthey, S. J., & Ro, Y. S. (2011). Approaches to writing instruction in elementary classrooms. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 6 (4), 273-295.
• Vojak, C., Kline, S., Cope, B., McCarthey, S., Kalantzis, M. (2011). New spaces and old places: An analysis of writing assessment software. Computers and Composition, 28 (2), 97-111.
• Cope, B., Kalantzis, M., McCarthey, S., Vojak, C., & Kline, S. (2011). Technology-mediated writing assessments: Paradigms and principles. Computers and Composition, 28 (2), 79-96.
• McCarthey, S. J., Woodard, R., & Kang, G. (2011). Teachers' perceptions of professional development in writing. 60th Yearbook of the Literacy Research Association (pp. 195-207). Oak Creek, WI: Literacy Research Association.
• McCarthey, S. J. (in press). Understanding ecologies of writing in multiple settings. Special Issue of Pedagogies: An International Journal.
• McCarthey, S. J., Woodard, R., & Kang, G. (in press). Access and perceptions of professional development in writing. New Directions in International Writing Research.
• Dressman, M., & McCarthey, S. J. (2004). Toward a pragmatics of epistemology, methodology, and other people's theories in literacy research. In N. Duke & M. Mallette (Eds.), Literacy Research Methods (pp. 322-346). New York: Guilford Press.
• McCarthey, S. J., & Zheng, X. (2010). Principles for writing practices with young ELLs. In G. Li & P. Edwards (Eds.), Best practices in ESL instruction (pp. 103-126). New York: Guilford.
• McCarthey, S. J. (2009). Understanding English language learners' identities in two languages and literacies in two contexts. In G. Li (Ed.) Multicultural families, home literacies, and mainstream schooling (pp. 221-244). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
• McCarthey, S. J. (2008). The impact of No Child Left Behind on teachers' writing instruction. Written Communication, 25, 462-505.
• McCarthey, S. J. (2008). Writing. In T. Good (Ed.), 21st Century Education: A reference hanbook (Vol. 1, pp. 336-342). San Francisco: Sage.
• McCarthey, S. J. (2007). Four metaphors of the composing process. In L. Bresler (Ed.), International handbook of research in arts education (pp. 475-490). The Netherlands: Springer.
• McCarthey, S. J. (2007). Composing as metaphor and process: Prelude to the composition section. In L. Bresler (Ed.), International handbook of research in arts education (pp. 445-449). The Netherlands: Springer.
• McCarthey, S. J. (in press). Understanding English language learners' identities from three theoretical perspectives. In Guofang Li (Ed.). Multicultural families, home literacies, and mainstream schooling. New York: SUNY Press.
• McCarthey, S. J., & Garcia, G. E. (2005). English language learners' writing practices and attitudes. Written Communication, 22(1), 36-75.
• McCarthey, S. J., Guo, Y. H., & Cummins, S. (2005). Understanding changes in elementary Mandarin students' L1 and L2 writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 14, 71-104.
• McCarthey, S. J. (2004). Bakhtin's dialogism in a preschooler's talk. Literacy Teaching and Learning, 8(2), 27-62.
• McCarthey, S. J., Garcia, G. E., Lin, S. Velasquez-Lopez, A., & Guo, Y. (2004). Understanding writing contexts for English language learners. Research in the Teaching of English, 38(4), 351-394.
• McCarthey, S. J. (2002). Students' identities and literacy learning. Internationa Reading Association and National Reading Conference. Neward, DE: IRA.
• McCarthey, S. J., & Moje, E. (2002). Identity matters. Reading Research Quarterly, 37, 228-238.
• Abbott, J., & McCarthey, S. J. (2001). Classroom influence on first-grade students’ oral narratives. Journal of Literacy Research, 33, 389-421.
• McCarthey, S. J. (2001). Identity construction in elementary readers and writers. Reading Research Quarterly, 36, 122-151.
• McCarthey, S. J., & Dressman, M. (2000). How will diversity affect literacy in the next millennium? Reading Research Quarterly, 35(4), 548-552.
• McCarthey, S. J. (2000). Home-school connections: A review of the literature. Journal of Educational Research, 93, 145-153.