Cheryl Sandora

Cheryl Sandora, Ph.D., has been a research associate at the Learning Research and Development Center for 20 years. Currently, she is an English language arts fellow at the IFL, an outreach of the University of Pittsburgh. With a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction, Cheryl has extensive experience designing curricular materials and reviewing district curricula. In addition, she works with districts throughout the country facilitating professional development sessions and supporting classroom-based instruction. Prior to her work at the IFL, Cheryl worked closely with Drs. Isabel Beck and Margaret McKeown conducting classroom-based research and coaching teachers and district specialists on instructional practices targeted toward vocabulary and comprehension. She recently coauthored the book Robust Comprehension Instruction with Questioning the Author: 15 Years Smarter.

Prior to her work at the University of Pittsburgh and the IFL, Cheryl was a professor in the Education Department at Bethany College in Bethany, WV, where she taught ELA methods courses and was instrumental in designing courses for their newly created graduate school. In addition, Cheryl was the director of their pre-service program where she oversaw all field placements as well as supervised pre-service teachers at their sites. As a classroom teacher, she has experience at all three levels-elementary, middle, and high school.