About Us
Shanna Hirsch, PhD., BCBA-D, is an Associate Professor of Special Education at the University of Maryland at College Park. Her research seeks to help bridge the research-to-practice gap by strengthening educators' use of evidence-based practices. Her primary interests are related to behavior and professional development. Specifically, identifying effective instructional methods to support student behavior and investigating innovative, responsive, technology-based methods for training teacher candidates and sustaining in-service educators. Her current research is focused on refining a problem-solving framework called function-based support, which helps educators develop student-centered supports for minor behaviors.
Tobey Duble Moore is a recent PhD graduate from the Educational Psychology department at UConn’s Neag School of Education. Prior to UConn, she earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Harvard University and her master’s degree in Intellectual Disabilities and Autism from Teachers College at Columbia University. Tobey has over 15 years of experience in the field of special education, having worked in various settings as a teacher, Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), and behavioral consultant. In these roles, she worked with students at the Tier 3 level, providing individualized behavior support and school- and district-level technical assistance in classroom management and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). She also worked as an intern at the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the Education Department. Her research interests include Tier 3 behavioral systems, implementation of integrated MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Support), and education policy, and much of her current research focuses on how federal and state policy and district systems can improve the technical adequacy of function-based supports in schools.
Jennifer McCatharn Ph.D. is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Maryland teaching future special educators and general educators in both the TLPL and CHSE departments, with a focus on literacy and inclusive practices for diverse learners. Dr. McCatharn previously served as senior manager of social-emotional learning (SEL) at Rocketship Public Schools, where she managed SEL practices and curriculum for a network of schools located across the U.S. She created the Shortest Distance Curriculum, an innovative SEL program using children’s literature to facilitate bibliotherapy, perspective-taking and social skills development. Her experience also includes teaching elementary school as a dual certified elementary and special educator, and she was a founding staff member at two charter schools and one private school in Washington, D.C. Dr. McCatharn was also a founding cohort member of the City Teaching Alliance. She earned her Ph.D. in special education from the University of Maryland, an M.Ed. in prevention science and practice from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, M.Ed.s in elementary and special education from Lesley University and a B.B.A. in marketing and business honors from Texas A&M University.
Research Interests: Social-emotional learning, evidence-based literacy practices, culturally responsive bibliotherapy, and teacher emotional intelligence and well-being.