UNC School of Education

>> Miller, Melissa

Melissa Miller’s research focuses on the prevention and remediation of academic difficulties for students with learning and behavior problems. Her most recent research investigated the ways in which teachers differentiate reading instruction and establish classroom management structures to promote reading development. With support from a grant from the Office of Special Education Programs, Miller conducted research in the area of combined reading and social skills interventions for students considered at risk for reading or behavior failure. 

Her research is built upon the underlying assumption that early intervention is key to preventing early reading and behavior failure. Using a system that was developed for combining early reading and behavior prevention that focuses on prevention across students at the school-wide level, the theoretical foundation of her research recognizes that some students require more intense and individualized intervention than others for reading and behavior problems. Using a three-tiered model ofearly prevention based on the work of researchers such as George Sugai and Robert Horner, her adapted model of academic instruction includes those primary, secondary, and tertiary preventions that occur specifically related to behavioral, academic, and instructional issues. Practical applications focus on differentiating instruction for students in inclusive classroom settings so that all students have access to the general education curriculum.

Her current research is significant in that it demonstrates the power of differentiated instruction when applied in classrooms with struggling readers. In such classrooms, teachers who implemented research based reading practices were able to maintain the gap in reading fluency, rather then allowing the gap to continue to widen. The practical implications of knowing that differentiated reading instruction can positively influence students’ oral reading fluency may encourage teachers to implement those strategies in classrooms with the lowest of readers. 

Within the field of special education, pre-service and in-service teacher education has focused on literacy instruction.  Miller hopes to move the field forward by examining teachers’ perceptions of pre-service teacher preparation and professional development in reading instruction to provide sound foundations so that teachers feel more prepared to teach reading to developing students. The next step in her research will include longitudinal examination of the impact of differentiated instruction on students’ academic development.