Dawn A Rowe, PhD, is a Research Associate Professor at the University of Oregon working as a researcher/technical assistance (TA) provider for the National Technical Assistance Center on Transition. Her duties include providing TA to states and local education agencies on the collection, analysis, and use of secondary transition data, review of literature to expand the evidence-base for secondary transition practices and predictors, and development of research-based training materials related to quality secondary transition components of the IEP and service delivery. She taught several university courses (e.g., Transition Planning and Instruction). Her current research interests include family engagement, life skills Instruction, collaboration, and transition from school to adult life for students with disabilities. She served as a teacher and transition specialist for youth with disabilities in the public-school system for 12 years. Dr. Rowe’s publications have focused on transition assessment, transition skill instruction for low incidence disabilities, and family engagement.
Ph.D., 2011, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC
Major: Special Education
Advisor: Dr. David Test
M.A. 1999, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC
Major: Special Education
B.S., 1997, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC
Major: Communication Disorders
Minor: Psychology
2011 Graduate Multidisciplinary Research Fair at University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2nd Place
2009 Pat Sitilington Student Research Award Finalist DCDT
2008 Teacher of the Year, West Ashley High School
Rowe, D. A., McNaught, J., Yoho, L. M., Davis, M., & Mazzotti, V.L., (2018). Helping Students Make Informed Decisions about Transition via Web-based Resources. Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Children, 41, 252-259. doi.org/10.1177/2165143417736266
Rowe, D. A., Mazzotti, V.M., Ingram, A., & Lee, S. (2017). Effects of goal-setting instruction on academic engagement for students at-risk. Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Children, 40, 25-35. doi: 10.1177/2165143416678175 [Special issue on Academics and Transition]
Rowe, D. A., Mazzotti, V. L., Hirano, K., & Alverson, C. Y. (2015). Transition assessment in the 21st century. Teaching Exceptional Children, 47, 301-309. doi: 10.1177/0040059915587670
Rowe, D. A., Mazzotti, V. L., & Sinclair, J. (2015). Strategies for teaching self-determination skills in conjunction with the common core. Intervention in School and Clinic, 50, 131-141 doi: 10.1177/1053451214542043.
Rowe, D. A., Alverson, C. Y., Unruh, D., Fowler, C., Kellems, R., & Test, D. W. (2015). A delphi study to operationalize evidence-based predictors in secondary transition. Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals, 38, 113-126. doi: 10.1177/2165143414526429.
My research agenda has evolved via conducting systematic reviews of the literature, publishing studies across multiple areas (e.g., evidence-based practices and predictors, life skills instruction, professional development), and submitting research grants to various funding sources (e.g., IES, NIDRR, OSEP, US Dept. of Education Office of Innovation and Improvement). My goal as a researcher is to identify practices that will improve both in-school and post-school outcomes for students with disabilities, particularly those with more intense support needs.
Much of my current research is guided by the social-ecological approach (Walker et al., 2011). The model is built upon the understanding that behaviors are interactional, including student characteristics and characteristics in the environment (e.g., school, community, employment) that affect student behavior and outcomes. I believe that understanding both the characteristics of the student and the demands of the environment in which they are functioning are critical to providing effective instruction and supports to students and ensuring the sustainability of any school-wide program (i.e., primary, secondary, post-secondary) to support individuals with disabilities in the development of academic, functional, and social-emotional skills necessary to persist through school into adulthood.