weiner siff

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July 3, 2007
For immediate release

Kimberly Weiner, a doctoral student at the Gevirtz School at UC Santa Barbara, has been awarded a Philip & Aida Siff Educational Foundation Fellowship for the 2007-2008 academic year. In the letter announcing the $7500 award, the Foundation wrote, “You are to be commended for your academic achievements to date and your obvious dedication to the achievement of a higher education. We trust that the Fellowship awarded will allow you to pursue your graduate education with additional enthusiasm.”

The Siff Foundation, based in Santa Barbara, supports doctoral students researching education of the developmentally disabled.

During the 2007-2008 school year Weiner will conduct research investigating methods to teach literacy skills effectively to English Language Learners. This research will guide the development of a more targeted, consistent, and robust instruction than is currently unavailable for this at-risk student population. Concurrently, she will be working to develop a model to train teachers in a variety of new skills and facilitate the translation of research into practice. Teachers will learn ways in which English Language Learners learn and how to improve their skills and methods in order to be effective educators for this specific population.

Kimberly Weiner, currently a third year doctoral student in the Special Education, Disabilities and Risk Studies program at the Gevirtz School, previously taught students diagnosed with autism in a private school for five years. Weiner is currently focusing her research on literacy development pertaining to English Language Learners, teacher education, and behavior management. As of June 2007, she completed an Education Specialist Credential and has used her experiences in the program to understand teacher education from an educator’s point of view as well as a researcher’s point of view.

Weiner says, “I am honored to accept this award from the Siff Foundation and will make every effort to conduct meaningful research with the intention of furthering the understanding of the needs of Special Education teachers and the diverse population of students with disabilities.”

[Kimberly Weiner is available for interviews; contact George Yatchisin at 805 893 5789]
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