Pierce, Lorraine V.

Send email to Dr. Pierce

Phone: (703) 993-2050
Fax: (703) 993-4370
Email: lpierce (@gmu.edu)

Dr. Valdez Pierce holds a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from Georgetown University.She has served as an Associate Professor in the Multilingual/Multicultural Education (MME) Program since 1992. She served as Co-Coordinator of the MME Program, concentrating on developing the CISL/ ESL Teacher Licensure Program for 6 years. Dr. Valdez Pierce began as a middle school teacher of English Language Arts, Reading, and Spanish as well as an Adult Education teacher of English as a second language. After obtaining her M.Ed., she taught at the Defense Language Institute (DLI) at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, where her students consisted of privates, lieutenants, captains, and other foreign military personnel in the Air Force, Army, and Navy speaking over 30 different languages.

In 1982, she was awarded a Fulbright Grant to Italy to conduct training in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) with secondary teachers. Dr. Valdez Pierce has worked for a number of international, national and federally-funded educational organizations in the Washington, DC metropolitan area since 1980. She has held positions as Senior Evaluation Specialist for the Georgetown University Evaluation Assistance Center, Research Associate/Editor at the Center for Applied Linguistics, Director of National Origin Desegregation Programs for the American University's Mid-Atlantic Equity Center, and Editor/Information Specialist at the National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education.

Between 2008 and 2011, Dr. Valdez Pierce served as member of the development team, as well as professional development consultant to FLARE,Formative Language Assessment Records for English Language Learners in Secondary School, a Carnegie Foundation Grant administered by the Wisconsin Center for Educational Research (WCER) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.In addition, between 2003 and 2010, she was a professional development consultant to WIDA, World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment, a Multi-State Consortium for Enhanced Assessment of English Language Learners serving 25 states and operated by the Wisconsin Center for Educational Research (WCER), University of Wisconsin - Madison.

From 2016 to 2018, Dr. Valdez Pierce served on the P-12 Professional Teaching Standards Revision  Expert Panel  as a Member & Rubric Designer for the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL International) in Alexandria, VA.

Dr. Valdez Pierce is currently working on a study of assessment courses for ESOL teachers.  She is also writing a paper on student evaluatrions are used to evaluate university faculty. She has had articles published in TESOL Journal, TESOL Matters, and Educational Assessment. She has authored chapters on assessment appearing in a variety of books. In addition to teaching graduate courses, conducting research on assessment in teacher education, providing professional development workshops through school-university partnerships, and producing publications. Dr. Valdez Pierce serves as a consultant or invited speaker for professional associations such as TESOL and NEA, at national, statewide, and local education meetings and conferences each year.

• Language Assessment
• Performance-based  Assessment
• Authentic Assessment
• Reading Strategies Instruction
• Literacy Instruction and Assessment
• Education Policy for Immigrant, Bilingual, & Multilingual Learners

• Valdez Pierce, L. (2018).  Assessment.  In C.J. Ovando & M.C. Combs (Eds.), Bilingual and ESL Classrooms (6^th ed.).  Boston, MA:  McGraw Hill.
• Valdez Pierce, L.  (Dec. 2014).  Scaffolding formative assessments of reading for ELLs.  Journal of the Greater Washington Reading Council, 29. 
• Valdez Pierce, L. & A. A. Kennedy.  (June 2014).  Assessing the reading progress of emergent readers:  A secondary school pilot.  WATESOL Newsletter, p. 15.
• Valdez Pierce, L. (2013).  Planning portfolios.  In J.D. Brown (Ed.), New ways of classroom assessment. 2^nd ed.  Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).
• Valdez Pierce, L. (2013).  Activating self-assessment.  In J.D. Brown (Ed.), New ways of classroom assessment. 2^nd ed.  Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).
• Valdez Pierce, L. (2013).  Reciprocal teaching: Reading strategies at work.  In J.D. Brown (Ed.), New ways of classroom assessment. 2^nd ed. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).
• Valdez Pierce, L. (Spring 2012).  Preparing pre-service teachers to meet TESOL/NCATE professional teaching standards.  AccELLerate! Quarterly Review of the National Clearinghouse for English language acquisition 4 (3), 5-7.
• Valdez Pierce, L.. (2011). Assessment. Chapter in C.J. Ovando, V. P. Collier, & M.C. Combs (Eds.), Bilingual and ESL Classrooms, 5th Ed. Boston, MA: McGraw Hill. 
• Valdez Pierce, L. (2003). Assessing English Language Learners. Washington, DC: National Education Association.
• Valdez Pierce, L.(2003, June/July/August). Teaching to the Test: Best practice? TESOL Matters 13 (3), 1, 6.
• Valdez Pierce, L. (2003, March/April/May). Accountability and Equity: Compatible Goals of High-Stakes Testing? TESOL Matters 13 (2), 1, 6.
• O'Malley, J. M. & Valdez Pierce, L. (1996). Authentic assessment for English language learners: Practical approaches for teachers.  Pearson. 

Graduate Courses I have designed and recently taught

• EDCI 520 - Assessment of Language Learners (survey course on standardized and performance-based assessments for English language learners (ESL) and students of World/Foreign Languages.
• EDCI 777 - Research to Practice (action research course)
• EDUC 881 - Doctoral Seminar - Bilingual Education Policy (local, national, and international education policies affecting language minority students)

• School of Education
• Division of Advanced Professional Teacher Development and International Education
• Foreign Language Education
• Teaching Culturally, Linguistically Diverse & Exceptional Learners
• English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Education

• Assessment of Language Learners (EDCI - 520)
• Research to Practice (EDCI - 777)
• Seminar in Bilingual Education: Policy (EDUC - 881)

• Linguistics for PreK-12 ESOL Teachers (EDCI 510)
• Curriculum Development for Language Learners (EDCI 521)
• Internship in Education (EDCI 790)
• Internship in Education: PK-12 ESL/ESOL Education (EDCI 793)
• Advanced Topics in Education (EDUC 797)
• Independent Study for the Doctor of Philosophy in Education (EDUC 897)