Today’s spotlight is on Mark R. Shinn, Ph.D., Professor and Coordinator of the School of Psychology at National Louis University (NLU) in Chicago and a Senior Consultant at Accelify Consulting.

Mark R. Shinn, Ph.D. is currently Professor and Coordinator of the School of Psychology at National Louis University (NLU) in Chicago. Prior to joining NLU in 2003, he was Professor of School Psychology and Special Education at the University of Oregon (1984-2003), where he supported attainment of national accreditations of the School Psychology Program by the American Psychological Association (APA) and National Association of School Psychologists (NASP). He was awarded the 2003 APA School Psychology Division Jack Bardon award for career service achievements and remains an APA Fellow, awarded 1994. His areas of expertise are scientifically based basic skills progress monitoring and screening, particularly when applied in a Multi-Tier System of Supports (MTSS) or Response to Intervention (RtI). Dr. Shinn has edited 2 books on Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) and published almost 100 journal articles and book chapters on basic skills progress monitoring and screening. In addition, he has contributed to the software development of aimsweb, and the progress monitoring components of Jamestown Reading Navigator and Vmath. As part of his contributions to the knowledge base of evidence-based interventions, he co-edited three editions of Interventions for Achievement and Behavior Problems in a Three-Tier Model, including RtI published by NASP. For four years, he was one of six members of the USDE/OSEP National Center for Student Progress Monitoring Technical Review panel for judging whether progress monitoring tests met professional standards. In his career, he has been the principal or co-principal investigator on more than $4 million in federal personnel preparation and research grants.

Dr. Shinn is also a nationally recognized consultant to schools and state departments of education across the country on implementation of MTSS /RTI. He began working in the first urban school district sites (St. Paul and Minneapolis Public Schools) that evolved into an RTI model in the early 1980s and has worked with schools and state departments of education in more than 40 states. Among these consultation activities, he served 5 years as the Project Director for the Northern Region of IASPIRE, an USDE/OSEP and Illinois State Board of Education Personnel Preparation Grant for supporting implementation of RTI in a Multi-Tier Intervention model in Illinois and other state department efforts most recently in Virginia, Tennessee, and North Dakota.

Dr. Shinn received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, where he studied with Dr. James Ysseldyke and Dr. Stanley L. Deno at the University of Minnesota Institute for Research on Learning Disabilities (IRLD).