Margaret King-Sears
PhD, University of Florida
Professor
George Mason University, Fairfax Campus
West Building 2104
4400 University Dr.
MS 6D2
Fairfax, VA 22030
Profile
Margaret E. King-Sears is a Professor of Special Education in the College of Education and Human Development. She received her Ph.D. in special education from the University of Florida, her master’s in special education from the University of North Florida, and her undergraduate degree in special education from Valdosta State College. Before coming to George Mason University in 2005, she was a Professor in the Department of Special Education at Johns Hopkins University. While at Johns Hopkins University, she developed and coordinated several teacher preparation programs, including the Mild/Moderate Disabilities Program, the Inclusive Education Program, and a Math Certificate for Middle and High School Educators Teaching Students with Diverse Learning Needs. During her tenure at Johns Hopkins University (1989 to 2005), she acquired almost $2 million in federal grants she authored in teacher preparation and research.
Prior to working in higher education, Dr. King-Sears taught elementary and secondary students who had a range of disabilities (learning disabilities, emotional or behavioral disorders, mild to moderate intellectual disabilities, and autism). She taught in public schools in Jacksonville FL and in the Department of Defense Dependents Schools in Schweinfurt, Germany, and Okinawa, Japan.
Dr. King-Sears’ first textbooks were on curriculum-based assessment (1994) and inclusive education (1997). These topics focus on her research interests for how special educators monitor students’ progress across instructional sessions, and the use of differentiation so that there are more opportunities for students with disabilities to learn with and relate to their same-age peers (and vice versa). Related to inclusion, Dr. King-Sears has also been researching ways that teachers can design and deliver self-management instruction to students with and without disabilities. She believes that self-management can promote students’ independence for a variety of skills in different settings. In 2003, she co-authored a text on Student-Directed Learning (Paul H. Brookes Publishing).
In 1998, Dr. King-Sears was recognized by the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning for her “Contributions in Research to Practice.” That same year, she also received an Outstanding Service award from the Council for Learning Disabilities. She has served in several leadership roles in professional organizations, including as President of the Council for Learning Disabilities in 2002-2003. She is a member of several professional organizations, including the Council for Exception Children, the American Education Research Association, and Council for Learning Disabilities. Dr. King-Sears currently serves on the Editorial Board of five peer-reviewed professional journals: Learning Disability Quarterly, Remedial and Special Education, Intervention in School and Clinic, Teacher Education and Special Education, and Assessment for Effective Intervention.
She has presented over 70 papers at international, national, and local professional conferences. Topics include co-teaching, universal design for learning, alternative and traditional teacher preparation programs, curriculum-based assessment, and inclusion.
Dr. King-Sears is Principal Investigator for Universal Design for Learning Mathematics Units under a School Reform grant funded by the US Department of Education (2006-2009). She is in collaboration with four other partners to design and develop items for a “Math Toolkit” to assist middle school teachers working with students with diverse learning needs, including students with disabilities. She is also a Co-Principal Investigator for a federally-funded Doctoral Leadership Grant in Special Education (2008-2012), in collaboration with Drs. Frederick Brigham and Pamela Baker at George Mason University.
Research Interests
· Universal Design for Learning
· Curriculum-Based Assessment
· Self-Management Techniques
· Differentiation
· Inclusive Education
· Teacher Preparation
· Co-Teaching
Recent Publications
King-Sears, M. E., & Duke, J. M. (in press). “Bring your textbook!” Using secondary texts to assess reading demands and skills required for students with high-incidence disabilities. Intervention in School & Clinic.
King-Sears, M. E. (2008). Using teacher and researcher data to evaluate the effects of self-management in an inclusive classroom. Preventing School Failure, 52(4), 25-34.
King-Sears, M. E. (2008). Facts and fallacies: Differentiation and general education curriculum for students with special education needs. Support for Learning, 23, 55-62.
King-Sears, M. E., & Evmenova, A. S. (2007). Premises, principles, and processes for integrating TECHnology into instruction. TEACHing Exceptional Children 40(1), 6-14.
King-Sears, M. E. (2007). Designing and delivering learning center instruction. Intervention in School and Clinic, 42, 137-147.
King-Sears, M. E. (2006). Self-management for students with disabilities: The importance of teacher follow-up. The International Journal of Special Education, 21, 94-108.
Carpenter, S. L., & King-Sears, M. E. (2006). Classroom assessment practices for instruction. In M. S. Rosenberg, L. J. O'Shea, & D. J. O'Shea Student teacher to master teacher: A practical guide for educating students with special needs (4th ed., pp. 89-123). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.
King-Sears, M. E., & Carpenter, S. L. (2005). Teaching self-management to elementary students with developmental disabilities. In M. L. Wehmeyer & M. Agran (Eds.) Mental retardation and intellectual disabilities: Teaching students using innovative and research-based strategies (pp. 235-254). Columbus OH: Merrill/Prentice Hall.
King-Sears, M. E. (2005). Scheduling for reading and writing small-group instruction using learning center designs. Reading and Writing Quarterly, 21, 401-405.
Agran, M., King-Sears, M. E., Wehmeyer, M. L., & Copeland, S. R. (2003). Student-directed learning. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.
King-Sears, M. E. (2001). Institutionalizing peer-mediated interventions: Train and hope? Remedial and Special Education, 22, 89-101.
King-Sears, M. E. (1999). Teacher and researcher co-design self-management content for an inclusive setting: Research training, intervention, and generalization effects on student performance. Education and Training in Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, 34, 134-156.
Other Information
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS:
Council for Learning Disabilities www.cldinternational.org
Council for Exceptional Children www.cec.sped.org