Mark Griffin, Ph.D. Was the Founder and Headmaster of Eagle Hill School, a Residential

Speaker Bios

Mark Griffin, Ph.D. was the Founder and Headmaster of Eagle Hill School, a residential and day school for children with specific learning disabilities located in Greenwich, Connecticut from 1975-2009. He is now an independent educational consultant. Dr. Griffin is a member of the Executive Committee, Board of Directors and Professional Advisory Board of the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD), a former member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Learning Disabilities Association of America and a NCLD representative on the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities. Dr. Griffin maintained a small private practice as a psychologist treating children and adolescents. His research interests center around professional preparation of school personnel, the development of social competence in children with learning disabilities and parenting issues. He also consults with foundations, independent and public schools concerning various aspects of learning disabilities, school management, and appropriate programming strategies for children with learning disabilities.

Barbara A. Marinak, Ph.D.is Associate Professor in the School of Education and Human Services at Mount St. Mary’s University where she teaches reading courses. Dr. Marinak received a Ph.D. in literacy from the University of Maryland, College Park. Her dissertation was awarded the 2005 J. Estill Alexander Future Leaders in Literacy Dissertation Award from the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers. Prior to joining the faculty at Mount St. Mary’s, Dr. Marinak spent more than two decades in public education. She held a variety of leadership positions including reading supervisor, elementary curriculum supervisor, and acting superintendent. Dr. Marinak co-chairs the Response to Intervention (RTI) Task Force of the International Reading Association and serves on the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities.

Dr. Marinak coauthored a chapter on starting and sustaining a systemic approach to RTI in the IRA book Successful Approaches to RTI: Collaborative Practices for Improving K–12 Literacy. She is also the co-author of Maximizing Motivation for Literacy Learning: Grades K-6, and co-editor of Essential Readings on Motivation.

Beth Poss, M.A., CCC/SLP, M.S. Ed, is currently an Instructional Specialist with Montgomery County Public Schools’ Elementary Curriculum 2.0 where she has been writing and supporting implementation of a Universally Designed for Learning curriculum aligned with the Common Core State Standards. She has worked collaboratively with Johns Hopkins Center for Technology in Education and the Maryland Assistive Technology Network, providing professional development for special educators and assistive technology teams across the state of Maryland over the past 15 years. She is an adjunct faculty for Johns Hopkins University’s Graduate School of Education, and has also taught for Towson University and George Washington University. She regularly presents webinars and face to face workshops across the country on universal design for learning, instructional and assistive technology, special education, and the Common Core State Standards.