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Dr. Jack Cassidy, Associate Dean

Jack Cassidy

Associate Dean, College of Education

Department of Curriculum and Instruction

Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

ECDC 238

6300 Ocean Dr.

Corpus Christi, TX 78412-5818

(361) 825-5611

jack.cassidy@tamucc.edu

Dr. Jack Cassidy is the director of the Center for Educational Development, Evaluation and Research (CEDER) and a professor of Curriculum and Instruction at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He also serves as the associate dean of the College of Education with responsibility for graduate programs. During 2002-2003, he was the interim chair of the Department of Educational Administration & Research. He has also directed the doctoral program in Educational Leadership. In addition to his leadership role at the university, Dr. Cassidy has taught courses in literacy and gifted education as well as starting a clinic for youngsters with literacy problems called the BEST program. He overseen both the annual Reading Conference and the annual CEDER Conference at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Previously, he taught at Millersville University in Pennsylvania. As an adjunct professor, he taught at Lehigh University, the University of Delaware, and the University of Texas at El Paso.

LEADERSHIP ROLES

Dr. Cassidy served as president of the International Reading Association (IRA) from 1982-83 and was a member of the board of directors from 1976-79. In addition, he was IRA's representative to the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) from 1980 to 1989 and again from 1997-2000. He chaired NCATE's executive board in 1988-89 and has also been a member of NCATE's appeals board . An active member of numerous IRA committees, he has also chaired the Learners with Special Needs Committee, the Evaluation Committee, the Accreditation Task Force, the Certificate of Distinction Task Force and the NCATE Advisory Committee. Recently, he has served on IRA's Commission on the Role of the Reading Specialist and the Professional Standards Committee. Dr. Cassidy was president of the Diamond State Reading Association of Delaware in 1974-75. He was a member of the board of directors for the College Reading Association (CRA) from 1994-97 and was CRA president from 1999-2000. He has been a member of the editorial advisory board for a variety of educational magazines, including The Teacher Educator, Learning, Language Arts, Reading Psychology and Teacher.

PUBLICATIONS

Dr. Cassidy's seventy-some articles have appeared in such journals as The Reading Teacher, The Journal of Reading, The Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, Teaching Exceptional Children, Journal for the Education of the Gifted, and Gifted Child Today.

In 1978 and again in 1985, Dr. Cassidy was one of the primary authors of the National Teachers Exam for reading specialists. During this time, he was one of the primary authors of the Descriptive Test of Language Skills. He played a major role on the verbal specifications panel for the 1994 version of the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Dr. Cassidy was also the senior consultant for the Group Reading Assessment and Diagnostic Evaluation (GRADE), a standardized test produced by Pearson Education.

Dr. Cassidy was the senior author of a supplementary reading series for youngsters in grades one through eight, entitled Read-Reason-Write (1998), which is published by Continental Press (Elizabethtown, PA). He was also the senior author of the Scribner Reading Series (1987, 1989), a basal reading program for students in grades kindergarten through eighth, which is published by Macmillan-McGraw Hill School Publishers. In addition, he has served as senior advisor/consultant for the Macmillan Literature Series published by Macmillan-Glencoe Inc. These literature anthologies are intended for grades 6 - 12. He was also the literature consultant for three literature anthologies (1999) produced by AGS Publishing: Exploring Literature, American Literature, and World Literature.

Dr. Cassidy continues his commitment to research and publishing by producing a series of yearbooks through CEDER. He has provided editing and co-authoring leadership in conjunction with contributions from the faculty and doctoral candidates at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Four yearbooks have been published to date: Early Childhood Literacy: Programs & Strategies to Develop Cultural, Linguistic, Scientific and Healthcare Literacy for Very Young Children & their Families; Developing Vocabulary in Children; No Student Left Behind, and Supporting Student Success. Since 1996, he has published the annual survey, What’s Hot, What’s Not in Reading. These surveys, which are published in Reading Today, are among the most cited works in the field of reading.

HONORS

Honors include listings in Who's Who in the East, Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in American Education, Who’s Who in America, and the Directory of Distinguished Americans. In 1988 and again in 1997, he was selected as his University's nominee for CASE Professor of the Year. In 1990, he was selected as Pennsylvania's Teacher Educator of the Year. In 1992, he was presented with a special citation for outstanding service to the International Reading Association, the Division of Research and Information Services, and the IRA/NCATE Advisory Group. In 1994, he was presented with IRA's Special Service award, one of that organization's most prestigious honors. In 1996, Dr. Cassidy was awarded the Paul A. Witty Meritorious Service Award for his work in reading and gifted education. In 200, he was given the A.B. Herr Award from the College Reading Association. This award is given to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the field of reading.

EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION

Dr. Cassidy has been a classroom teacher at both the elementary and secondary levels as well as a reading specialist at both levels. For six years, he was a K-12 reading supervisor in Newark, Delaware. He has served as special consultant to various school districts and state departments throughout the nation and to the Educational Testing Services organization. Dr. Cassidy has a B.A. in English from Gettysburg College (PA). His M.Ed. and Ph.D. are from Temple University (PA).