Joanne Meier, PhD, has more than 15 years of experience in the field of education. Dr. Meier served on the faculty at the University of Virginia for six years where she trained reading specialists and future classroom teachers. In addition to her teaching, Dr. Meier co-authored three Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS) instruments, used today by over 14,000 PreK-grade 3 teachers in Virginia. Dr. Meier has conducted research and published in several professional journals. Her research has been published in journals as diverse as Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, Reading Writing Quarterly, Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, and Teaching and Change. Dr. Meier is a co-author of the Phonics Friends series, published by Child's World. Before pursuing her PhD, she taught elementary school in Fairfax County, Virginia.