ECHEVARRIA, Jana 1956-

PERSONAL:

Born March 1, 1956, in American Falls, ID; daughter of Charles and Joanne (Monroe) Echevarria; married William E. Ratleff, October 1, 1983 (marriage ended, August 10, 1994); married Charles S. Vose, May 16, 2003; children: (first marriage) Paige Ann, Dillon Edward. Education: California State University—Long Beach, B.A., 1978, M.S., 1984; University of California—Los Angeles, Ph.D., 1993. Politics: Democrat. Religion: Christian. Hobbies and other interests: Sports, travel.

ADDRESSES:

Home—7030 Seawind Dr., Long Beach, CA 90803. Office—Department of Educational Psychology, California State University—Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90840. E-mail—jechev@csulb.edu.

CAREER:

California State University—Long Beach, Long Beach, professor of bilingual special education, 1992-2003, department chair, 2002—. SIOP Institute, writer and consultant; National Center for Learning Disabilities, member of professional advisory board.

MEMBER:

American Educational Research Association, Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Council for Exceptional Children.

WRITINGS:

(With R. McDonough) Instructional Conversations in Special Education Settings: Issues and Accommodations, National Center for Research on Cultural Diversity and Second Language Learning (Washington, DC), 1993.

Instructional Conversations: Understanding through Discussion Training Manual, National Center for Research on Cultural Diversity and Second Language Learning (Washington, DC), 1995.

(With A. Graves) Sheltered Content Instruction: Teaching Students with Diverse Abilities, Allyn & Bacon (Boston, MA), 1998, 2nd edition, 2003.

(With A. Pickett and L. Safarik) A Core Curriculum and Training Program to Prepare Paraeducators to Work with Learners Who Have Limited English Proficiency, National Resource Center for Paraprofessionals in Education (New York, NY), 1998.

(With M. E. Vogt and D. Short) Making Content Comprehensible for English Language Learners: The SIOP Model, Allyn & Bacon (Boston, MA), 2000.

Contributor to books, including Schools and the Culturally Diverse Student: Promising Practices and Future Directions, edited by A. Ortiz and B. Ramirez, Council for Exceptional Children (Reston, VA), 1988; Promoting Learning for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students, edited by R. Gersten and R. Jimenez, Wadsworth Publishing (New York, NY), 1998; and Observational Research in U.S. Classrooms: New Approaches for Understanding Cultural and Linguistic Diversity, edited by H. Waxman, R. Tharp, and S. Hilberg, Cambridge University Press (Boston, MA), in press. Contributor to periodicals, including Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, Intervention in School and Clinic, Special Edge, Bilingual Research Journal, Science Teacher, and Issues in Teacher Education.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

School Reform and Standards-Based Education: Where Does It Leave EnglishLanguage Learners?; research on the effects of the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) Model on student achievement.

SIDELIGHTS:

Jana Echevarria told CA: "I have always been drawn to helping students who are at risk for school failure, either because of their learning differences or because of cultural or linguistic diversity, or both. My career began in special education, where I realized that teachers benefit from new ideas and approaches, especially those that are scientifically validated through research. I also was interested in bilingual populations and taught bilingual classes and English as a second language. The two disciplines came together through an interdisciplinary master's degree in bilingual special education and subsequently when I began teaching at a university that had a program to prepare special education teachers to work effectively with language-minority students. After a couple years in teacher preparation, I wrote a training manual for teachers that discussed effective practices. That is how my writing career began.

"After I received my doctorate, I was better equipped for scholarly writing, and I learned that I really enjoyed writing; it was more than something to do to receive tenure. I continued writing for scholarly journals and then wanted to write a book that incorporated the materials I had developed for the courses I taught. I wrote my first textbook in 1998.

"The research a colleague and I conducted resulted in an observation protocol for qualifying how well teachers implement the model of instruction for English learners that we developed. The book we wrote to illustrate the model of teaching that is effective for English learners appealed to teachers, administrators, and teacher trainers; we just completed the second edition. Interestingly, I believe part of the appeal is that it is written in language that is understandable, rather than a more scholarly voice. So, my writing has come full circle—after I learned scholarly writing, the most popular publication is the one that is more user-friendly.

"I enjoy the feeling that I've made a contribution to enhancing the teaching and learning process for students who are in the greatest need of assistance in our schools."