Taffy E. Raphael
University of Illinois at Chicago

Taffy E. Raphael, Ph.D., is a member of the Literacy, Language and Culture faculty in Literacy Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, teaching courses related to methods of instruction, teacher research, and related topics.  Prior to joining the UIC faculty, Dr. Raphael taught intermediate grade students in Homewood, Illinois and Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  In addition, she has taught and conducted research at the University of Utah (1980-1982), Michigan State University (1982-1997), and Oakland University (1997-2001).

Dr. Raphael’s work in teacher education was recognized by her receipt of the Outstanding Teacher Educator in Reading Award from the International Reading Association, May 1997.  Her research has focused on Question Answer Relationships (QAR) and strategy instruction in writing, and, for the past decade, Book Club, a literature-based reading program.  Throughout these research projects, she has studied teacher learning and professional development through teacher study groups.  She received Oakland University’s Research Excellence Award in September 2000 and was designated as a University Scholar at University of Illinois at Chicago in 2004.

She has published in the leading research journals, and coauthored and edited several books on literacy instruction, including Book Club:  A Literature-Based Curriculum (Small Planet Communications 1997, 2002) and, with Kathryn Au, Super QAR for Testwise Students (Wright Group, 2002), and with Kathryn Au and Kathy Highfield, QAR Now (Scholastic, 2006).

Dr. Raphael is currently Director of Partnership READ, a school-university partnership to improve literacy instruction through professional development, funded through the Searle Funds of The Chicago Community Trust and recognized by AACTE’s 2006 Best Practices Award for Effective Partnerships.  She was selected for the International Reading Association Reading Hall of Fame in 2002.

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