Athens, Ga. – University of Georgia education professor JoBeth Allen, a codirector of the University of Georgia’s collaborative partnership with Clarke County Schools and the Athens-Clarke community, has received a national award for her service work with public schools.
Allen, a professor of language and literacy education in UGA’s College of Education, received the first John Chorlton Manning Public School Service Award from the International Reading Association (IRA).
The award recognizes Allen’s work integrating teacher preparation, professional development and related research with the work of public schools, classrooms, teachers and students. The award, which includes a $10,000 prize, was presented at the recent IRA conference in San Antonio.
Allen conducts collaborative action research with teachers who are exploring issues of educational equity and social justice in relation to literacy teaching and learning. She codirects the Red Clay Writing Project (www.coe.uga.edu/rcwp/) and the Partnership for Community Learning Centers (http://www2.clarke.k12.ga.us/ccsduga/), a comprehensive local school reform initiative that aims to improve student learning.
Among her six books are three collaborations with Betty Shockley Bisplinghoff and Barbara Michalove (Engaging Children, Engaging Families and Engaging Teachers) and Class Actions: Teaching for Social Justice in Elementary and Middle School, written with Literacy Education for a Democratic Society, a study group of local educators.
Allen’s collaborations with teacher researchers are also published in professional journals, including Reading Research Quarterly, The Journal of Literacy Research, Language Arts, The Reading Teacher and Reading and Writing Quarterly.
Allen received her Ed.D. from the University of Kansas in 1982, taught at Kansas State University for four years and joined the UGA faculty in 1986.
