Statement of Research Interests

Dr. Denise De Vito

My research has focused on secondary education, content literacy, education policy, ethics, the philosophy of education, the political sociology of curriculum, the history of educational ideas, change theory, equity issues, and technology. I have assisted in data collection for “classroom as community” research. I have also assisted in developing a survey instrument that examined leadership style, school climate, and teacher attrition within the urban middle-school setting. I have conducted research regarding policy implementation, the change process, the communication between implementers and practitioners, and the efficacy of self-perception on practice with veteran English language arts teachers in metropolitan secondary settings.

My future research goals include several areas of interest in two broad areas: (1) policy implementation and change, and (2) young adult literacy acquisition.

(1)   Policy implementation and the change process is a fascinating arena for me. Research regarding educational reform in the United States has examined change in public schools, including changes in the role of the teacher.  Secondary teachers have been studied regarding school leadership, work atmosphere, and resource availability, but research specific to secondary English teachers’ perceptions of how policy implementation affects them in their day to day practice is lacking. Factors of change and the effects on teachers’ attitudes reflect how teachers as participants of change cope with change reform.

I have researched veteran English language arts teachers’ perceptions regarding policy implementation and change regarding their classroom practice in metropolitan secondary settings but would like replicate the study in a rural setting to compare the data.

(2)   Young adult literacy acquisition among rapidly changing global definitions of literacy have become a new arena of interest. Visual media is familiar in the daily lives of adolescents. Video games, television, print advertising, cartoons, computer graphics, and graphic icons are familiar non- texts that feature visual images for these visual consumers. With such consistent exposure to images, it is not surprising that graphic novel sales and readership are on the rise among adolescents in the United States. Computer and elanguage usage illustrates high levels of writing and reading by students, but does not lie within the range of traditional academic concepts of reading and writing. However, young adults are reading and writing and consuming non-traditional forms of literacy daily in an atmosphere that is highly visual and provides instantaneous feedback.