Welcome to Eva Thorp's Home Page!

	Eva K. Thorp, Ed.D. Associate Professor, Graduate School of Education;  Associate Director of the Helen A. Kellar Institute for Human disAbilities B.A., Northwestern University, Psychology M.A., Ed., The George Washington University, Early Childhood Special Education Ed.D., The George Washington University

Profile:

Eva K. Thorp, Ed.D., is an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Education at George Mason University.  She designed, and for the last six years has Co-Directed, with Dr. Sylvia Sanchez, the UTEEM Early Childhood program, a nationally recognized pre service program for teachers of culturally, linguistically, and ability diverse young children and their families.  She also Co-Directs the Multicultural Early Childhood Team Training (MECTT) project.  MECTT has developed a nationally disseminated curriculum to enhance parent-professional collaboration and to support increased leadership roles for diverse parents in early childhood settings.  The project is a collaborative effort between GMU and the Parent Educational Advocacy Training Center (PEATC).  Dr. Thorp brings expertise from the field of early childhood special education.  She has more then twenty five years experience in early intervention, serving in direct service, administrative, preservice, inservice, consultant and technical assistance roles.  She has also provided leadership to local, state and national organizations.  Her current interests include:  family/professional collaboration; personnel development for work with culturally and linguistically diverse learners; and recruitment and support strategies for teachers from under-represented groups.  Her most recent project,  Educators Without Boarders (EWB) is a model for recruiting preservice teachers from under-represented groups and for supporting development of leadership and advocacy skills.

Dr. Thorp’s publishing activities include authoring articles in professional journals, as well as presentations made at a variety of international, national, state and local conferences, and development of curriculum materials.

Recent Publications

• Thorp, E.K., Sánchez, S.Y., & Fader-Dunne, Lora.  (2001, in press).  Field Experiences for Diverse Communities.  To be published by Council for Exceptional Children.

• Kidd, J.K., Sánchez, S. Y., & Thorp, E.K.  (2001).  Finding mutual benefit in University-School Partnerships:  Interns, The project approach, and diverse learners.  (The Teacher Educators Journal).

• Kidd, J.K., Sánchez, S.Y., & Thorp, E.K.  (2001).  Integrating language and literacy through projects: An applied internship experience.  (College Reading Association Yearbook).

• Wiley, H.O., Thorp, E., Sánchez, S., & Cornish, M.  (2000). Partnering in the community: Higher Horizons Head Start Program Partnership Profile.  Journal of Children and Families.

• Raver, S.A. & Thorp, E.K.  (1999).   Techniques for the neonatal period.  In Sharon A. Raver (Ed.) , Intervention strategies for infants and toddlers with special needs: A team approach  (2nd ed., pp.140-167).  New Jersey:  Prentice-Hall, Inc.

• Sánchez, S.Y. & Thorp, E.K. (1998 June/July).  Discovering meanings of continuity: Implications for the infant/family field.  In Emily Fenichel (Ed.), Bulletin of Zero to Three:  National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families,  18,(6),1 - 5.

• Sánchez, S.Y. & Thorp, E.K.   (1998 June/July).  Policies on linguistic continuity:  A family’s right, a practitioner’s choice, or an opportunity to create shared meaning and a more equitable relationship?  In Emily Fenichel (Ed.), Bulletin of zero to three:
• National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families,  18,(6), pp. 12 - 20.

• Thorp, E.K., & Sánchez, S.Y.  (1998 June/July).  The use of discontinuity in preparing early educators of culturally, linguistically, and ability-diverse young children and their families. In Emily Fenichel (Ed.), Bulletin of zero to three:  National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families,  18,  (6),27 - 32.

• Thorp, E.K.  (1997).  Increasing opportunities for partnership with culturally and linguistically diverse families.  Intervention in School and Clinic, 32(5),261-269.

• Anderson, R., Lowman, D., Thorp, E., & Wehman, P.  (1997).  Early Intervention: Services to infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with special needs.  In P. Wehman, (Ed.), Exceptional individuals in school, community, and work, pp. 559-596.  Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.

• Thorp, E.K. & McCollum, J.A.  (1994).  Defining the infancy specialization in early childhood special education.  In L. Johnson, R.J. Gallagher, M.J. LaMontagne, & J. Jordan (Eds.), Meeting early intervention challenges: Issues from birth to three, pp. 167-183.  Baltimore, MD: Brookes.

Current Grant Initiatives

Educators Without Borders (2001-2006)
The Educators Without Borders (EWB) project aims to recruit, support, and mentor individuals from traditionally
underrepresented groups entering the field of early intervention.  The project will build on the successes of an ongoing
preservice program that prepares educators to work with culturally and linguistically diverse young children with low incidence
disabilities.  The project goals are: a) to increase the numbers of licensed educators from diverse cultural, racial, and linguistic
backgrounds, as well as individuals with disabilities; b) to develop the practitioner, leadership, and advocacy skills needed for
effective and responsive service delivery in diverse community settings; c) to provide the support, training, and skills needed for
diverse educators to respond to issues of bias and discrimination in the work place, and d) to create a mentorship network for
participants during both the preservice and induction phase of preparation.
The Educators Without Boarders project is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs (CFDA #84.325A).

Multicultural Leadership Teams: Families and Professionals Creating Culturally Responsive Practices

State leadership training provides an opportunity for diverse family/professional teams to promote and sustain family centered and culturally appropriate practices in local early childhood programs.  The training is offered by the Multicultural Early Childhood Team Training (MECTT) Project.  MECTT  is a collaboration between GMU’s Kellar Institute for Human disAbilities and the Parent Educational Advocacy Training Center (PEATC).  MECTT uses a nationally validated comprehensive inservice training curriculum that prepares family/professional teams to target priorities and address their specific needs for change in order to improve services for diverse families of young children with special needs.  This is a technology-based outreach project to assist state level leadership teams funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (H324R000019).

Migrant Head Start
 

GSE Program Affiliations

• UTEEM Early Childhood Program
• Special Education-Early Childhood Special Education
• Helen A. Kellar Institute for Human disAbilities
• Multilingual/Multicultural Program

GSE Committees

• Ph.d. Committee
• Faculty Evaluation Team

Association for Childhood Education International
Association for the Care of Children's Health
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
Association of Teacher Educators
Association of Virginia Infant Programs
     Board Member and Regional Coordinator, 1989-1991
Council for Exceptional Children
    Board of Governors, 1990-1992
International Division for Early Childhood
     Personnel Committee, 1992-present
     Conference Planning Committee, 1991-1992
     Executive Committee, Governor, 1990-1992
Illinois Division for Early Childhood
     Secretary, 1987-1989
     AdHoc Committee on Families, 1988-1989
Virginia Division for Early Childhood
     Past-president, 1997-1998
     President, 1996-1997
     President Elect, 1995-1996
     Political Action Network, 1994-1995
Teacher Education Division
Division for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Exceptional Learners
International Association for Infant Mental Health
Virginia Association for Infant Mental Health
     Vice President and Board Member, 1981-1986
National Association for the Education of Young Children
National Association for Multicultural Education
Phi Delta Kappa

Research Interests

• Preparing personnel for diverse learners
• Family/professional collaboration
• Family Narratives

Office Mailing Address
George Mason University
4400 University Drive, MS 1F2
Fairfax, VA 22030

Office Location:      Krug Hall-110A
Office Phone:          703-993-2035
Office Fax:              703-993-3681
Email:                     ethorp@gmu.edu
Office Hours for Spring 2002:  by appointment

Appointment's with Dr. Thorp: please call Melissa Ellis at 703-993-3670 x40436 or email Melissa at mellis1@gmu.edu

Syllabi For Dr. Thorp's Spring 2002 (click on links below to go to a class syllabus)
EDUT 522:   Family-Centered Assessment of Diverse Infants and Toddlers
EDUC 800:  Ways of Knowing

Links to other useful sites:
George Mason University Hompage
GSE Homepage
UTEEM
MECTT
Kaleidoscope
VITA
Educators Without Boarders (EWB)
Cohort VI Spring 2002 Calendar
Cohort VII Spring 2002 Calendar

Spring 2002 Syllabi
EDUC 800 Spring 2002 Syllabus

UTEEM Syllabi
EDUT 511 Fall 2001 Syllabus                      EDUT 521 Spring 2002 Syllabus
EDUT 512 Fall 2001 Syllabus                      EDUT 522 Spring 2002 Syllabus
EDUT 513 Fall 2001 Syllabus                      EDUT 523 Spring 2002 Syllabus
EDUT 514 Fall 2001 Syllabus                      EDUT 524 Spring 2002 Syllabus
EDUT 612 Fall 2001 Syllabus                      EDUT 781 Spring 2002 Syllabus
EDUT 613 Fall 2001 Syllabus                      EDUT 782 Spring 2002 Syllabus
EDUT 614 Fall 2001 Syllabus                      EDUT 791 Spring 2002 Syllabus
EDUT 615 Fall 2001 Syllabus                      EDUT 792 Spring 2002 Syllabus
EDUT 781 Fall 2001 Syllabus

Past Syllabi
EDSE 665:  Collaboration with Families of Children with Special Needs

This webpage is maintaind by Melissa Ellis.  Please direct any questions or comments to mellis1@gmu.edu