Biography

Mary L. Spencer is an Education Specialist at the Rhode Island Department of Education and is the Coordinator of the State Personnel Development Grant (SPDG), funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. Her work involves supporting the professional development of educators and educator preparation program faculty in Structured Literacy and the Science of Reading in a Multitiered System of Support (MTSS) framework. Grant initiatives include partnership work with CEEDAR and Rhode Island College to strengthen preparation programs and clinical practice experiences for pre-service teachers. Mary is a former Denver Public Schools teacher, a former literacy specialist/coach at the Colorado Department of Education, and an Assistant Professor at Colorado Christian University, where she developed and managed a university reading clinic for students with Dyslexia. Mary’s foundational expertise in reading intervention came from 6 years of work with Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes, where she completed thousands of hours working directly with students and several years working onsite in schools in Denver, the Navajo Nation and various “bush” communities in Alaska. Mary’s formal education includes a B.S. in Human Development and Family Studies from the University of Rhode Island, a M.Ed. in School Counseling from Boston University, and a graduate (teacher licensure) certificate in Elementary Education. She is now completing her Ed.D. in Leadership and Learning in Organizations at Vanderbilt University.