Greenwood School is excited to announce that Dr. Louisa Moats has joined our Board of Trustees as an Academic Program Advisor. Dr. Moats will work directly with Greenwood in the areas of curriculum development, outreach, instruction, and assessment. We will greatly benefit from Dr. Moats' wisdom and insight.

Dr. Moats vividly remembers her first visit to Greenwood School when she was a psychologist in private practice: Several of my dyslexic clients were enrolled at the school. I was astonished that teachers actually used research-based instructional practices. Tutorials were taught by skilled, informed, patient, persistent specialists in multisensory structured language. The curriculum was rich with substantive, engaging, innovative projects and content learning. Even the younger students had adjusted well to the school and several of my clients swore that Greenwood had saved their lives. Since that initial visit, Dr. Moats has personally trained many Greenwood teachers who have continued to develop innovative, research-based, individualized programs for Greenwood's high-potential students. Dr. Moats is looking forward to assisting Academic Dean Bruce Rosow and the faculty to continue to develop and implement the best program possible at Greenwood.

Dr. Moats is the former Project Director for The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Interventions Project for a five-year study of early reading instruction that was conducted in Houston, Texas, and Washington, DC, public schools. She received her doctorate in Reading and Human Development from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. Louisa worked as a teacher, neuropsychology technician, and specialist in learning disorders prior to her doctoral training in reading. She was a licensed psychologist in private practice for 15 years in Vermont, as well as a graduate instructor at Harvard University and St. Michael's College where she developed courses for teachers linking the disciplines of linguistics and reading education. Specializing in reading development, reading disorders, spelling, and related language concerns, she has an international reputation and has written and lectured widely throughout the United States and abroad. Dr. Moats acknowledges the faculty and students of The Greenwood School and The Greenwood Institute in her groundbreaking publication, Speech to Print: Language Essentials for Teachers. She spent the 1996-1997 school year as the Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Sacramento County Office of Education, where she authored leadership training materials on early reading for the California State Board of Education and conducted numerous symposia and workshops for professionals in education. Dr. Moats was featured in People Magazine (Why Johnny Can't Spel, August, 2001) and also designed and taught innovative courses for teachers on language structure and its role in learning to read and write through the Greenwood Institute in Putney, Vermont, and through Simmons College in Boston.