Rhoda Coleman, Ed. D

Rhoda is a part-time Assistant Professor in the USC Rossier School of Education’s Masters of Arts in Teaching program. She teaches courses in Literacy Development, History-Social Science, and English as a New Language.

While in the Lennox School District for 29 years, grades 1-6, she was a California Teacher of the Year, Los Angeles County Teacher of the Year, and California History-Social Science Teacher of the Year. She was also recipient of the Milken Educator Award and the Rossier School of Education ROSE Award for outstanding service to education. She was then a Language Arts consultant for Los Angeles County Office of Education providing K-12 professional development to school districts throughout California and creating over 25 training videos for teachers of English Learners.  In the ensuing 8 years, she taught full-time in Teacher Education at CSU Dominguez Hills and then became a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Language Minority Education and Research at CSU, Long Beach.  She remains an active fellow of The California Reading and Literature Project and the California History-Social Science Project.

Her publications include numerous journal articles, a co-authored book, Promoting Academic Achievement for English Learners: A Guide to the Research (2010)  with Claude Goldenberg and a chapter with Jeff Zwiers (2016), Corroborating Multiple Sources from Art and History. In L. De Oliveira (Ed.), The Common Core State Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technology for English Learners: Grades 6-12. Dr. Goldenberg and Rhoda also developed an observation protocol and video series used to support teachers of English learners.

She received her Doctor of Education in Language and Literacy from USC, a Master of Arts in Reading and a Reading Specialist Credential from Loyola Marymount University, a Master of Arts in Administration from California State University, Los Angeles and a Bachelor of Arts in Social Science from the University of Southern California. Being an elementary teacher will always be the best years of her life!