Dale L. Lewis
Project Director
Dale Lewis is a Project Director with SEDL's Improving School Performance program. Dr. Lewis works primarily with the Southeast Comprehensive Center (SECC) supporting projects in Response to Intervention (RtI), special education, and comprehensive school improvement. In the SECC, he helps to build the capacity of state departments of education to meet the goals and provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) by providing technical assistance and professional development in areas such as evidence-based practices and the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM). Under fee-for-service contracts, Dr. Lewis has also worked with local education agencies by providing professional development and technical assistance in RtI implementation, collaborative teaching, differentiated instruction, special education, and the Professional Teaching and Learning Cycle (PTLC).
Contact Information
You may contact Dale L. Lewis at 512-391-6513
Dr. Lewis’s research interests include educator expectations and academic achievement outcomes for students with disabilities, Response to Intervention, and school turnaround.
- Response to Intervention: Dr. Lewis works with states and local education agencies to develop and refine Response to Intervention (RtI) policies and procedures, and to support the implementation and scaling up of RtI at the local level.
- Special Education: Formerly a special education teacher, evaluator, and director, Dr. Lewis focuses in his work on assisting states and local education agencies in meeting the educational needs of students with disabilities and enhancing achievement expectations and outcomes.
- Change Process: Dr. Lewis has provided training for state departments and school district staff in the use of CBAM with an emphasis on the creation of Innovation Configurations and the interpretation of results from the Stages of Concern Questionnaire to guide and support decision making in the implementation of change initiatives. He is also a certified Levels of Use interviewer.
Prior to joining SEDL and the SECC in February 2009, Dr. Lewis served as director of special education for the East Williamson County Cooperative (EWCC), a shared services arrangement between five public school districts in Central Texas. His 19 years of K–12 public education experience include service as a middle school special education teacher and department chairperson. A certified educational diagnostician, Dr. Lewis also spent several years conducting educational evaluations and facilitating the development of individualized educational programs for students with disabilities before assuming responsibilities for special education program coordination and leadership in the Bastrop Independent School District and later the EWCC. Education
Dr. Lewis holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Washington University–St. Louis and a master’s degree in special education from Southwest Texas State University. He received his PhD in education-school improvement with a research emphasis in special education and academic achievement outcomes of students with disabilities in 2008 from Texas State University-San Marcos. He is also a Certified Educational Diagnostician.
Professional Development Session Presented by Dale Lewis
Dale Lewis teaches SEDL's professional development session, "Response to Intervention (RtI) in Secondary Schools."
- Differentiated instruction: An innovation configuration (2011)
- Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners: Texas Comprehensive Center Briefing Paper, Number 7 (2011)
- Using Data to Guide Instruction and Improve Student Learning, SEDL Letter, Volume XXII, Number 2 (2010)
- Rapid Response: Response to Intervention (RtI) Policy (2009)
- Rapid Response: Response to Intervention Implementation and Monitoring (2009)
- Tobia, E., Chauvin, R., Lewis, D., & Hammel, P. (2011). The light bulb clicks on: Consultants help teachers, administrators, and coaches see the value of learning teams. Journal of Staff Development, 32(1), 22–25.
- Lewis, D. L. (2008). Ending the bigotry of low expectations? No Child Left Behind and the Texas state alternative assessment for students with disabilities. (Doctoral dissertation, Texas State University). Retrieved from http://ecommons.txstate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=eapstad
