"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Winston Churchill
Education:
B.A. in Philosophy, California State University at Chico
M.A. in Counseling and Educational Psychology, University of the Pacific
D.Ed. in Special Education, University of the Pacific
Years of DI Experience:
41+
Dr. Kathy Madigan has been a teacher, principal, college professor, researcher, and curriculum coordinator. Kathy started in Direct Instruction in the late 70s as a field-test teacher in Central California for the early edition of the Corrective Reading Decoding and Comprehension Programs. Since then, she has worked with a full range of learners and age levels using Direct Instruction, applied behavior analysis, precision teaching, and other evidence-based approaches. Kathy’s expertise in working with individuals with traumatic brain injury brought national recognition for using Direct instruction with this population. In the 90s, as the assistant dean for the College of Education at the University of Oregon, she helped design new teacher education programs and increase funding for key research projects. As a co-founder and President of the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence, she helped the national organization receive and maintain $40 million in grants to develop the innovative and nationally recognized standards-based teacher certification program. She also worked as the Vice President for Advantage Schools, where she was responsible for curriculum, behavior management, staff development, and principal supervision in 16 start-up charter schools using DI across the US. In 2016, she was selected as one of four members to serve on the Presidential Transition Team in Education. Kathy is a nationally recognized leader in special education and education reform. Dr. Madigan currently works with NIFDI as a Project Director for the implementation of DI in select IDEA Schools academies and college preparatory schools as part of the Critical Student Intervention (CSI) program in grades 3-8.
