The Reading League Invited to Join National Joint Council on Learning Disabilities
April 22, 2022
SYRACUSE, NY – The Reading League has been invited to become a member organization of the National Joint Council on Learning Disabilities (NJCLD), a national committee of organizations committed to the education and welfare of individuals with learning disabilities.
The mission of the NJCLD is to provide multi-organizational leadership and resources to optimize outcomes for individuals with learning disabilities. The Reading League joins 12 other member organizations committed to moving this mission forward.
Representing The Reading League will be Dr. Maria Murray, President and CEO; Jessica Pasik, TRL Professional Development Coordinator, and Dr. Michelle Storie, Board Member and Conference Committee Chair.
“We are honored to join this amazing group of NJCLD member organizations. Together we hope to share resources to strengthen reading outcomes for individuals with learning disabilities,” said Dr. Murray.
Maria S. Murray, PhD, is President and CEO of The Reading League. Prior to founding The Reading League, Dr. Murray was an associate professor at the State University of New York at Oswego, where she taught courses related to literacy assessment and intervention for ten years. She received her Ph.D. in Reading Education from Syracuse University, where she served as project coordinator for Dr. Benita Blachman’s numerous federally-funded early reading intervention grants. Dr. Murray is passionate about the prevention and remediation of reading difficulty and consistently strives to increase educator knowledge and the connections between research and practice.
Jessica Pasik is a Professional Development Coordinator with The Reading League. She is a licensed New York state reading specialist with a Masters of Science in Literacy Education. Jessica is also an adjunct professor at SUNY Oswego in the Curriculum and Instruction department. Prior to her work with The Reading League, Jessica was employed by the Fulton City School District where she was a special education teacher and later an academic intervention services provider. Jessica was a founding board member of The Reading League and is passionate about empowering teachers with the knowledge and skills necessary to deliver evidence-aligned reading instruction.
Michelle S Storie, Ph.D., is a New York State licensed psychologist and permanently-certified school psychologist. She is an Assistant Professor in the Counseling and Psychological Services Department at the State University of New York at Oswego and is Coordinator of the School Psychology Program. Dr. Storie has also served as Director and Coordinator of the Syracuse University Psychoeducational Teaching Laboratory since 2000. She has eighteen years of experience as a school psychologist, and has worked in urban, suburban, and rural school districts. Dr. Storie is Conference Chairperson of The Reading League, former Treasurer of The Reading League, and is one of its founding board members. She is also a member of the National Association of School Psychologists and was a former Treasurer and Conference Chairperson for the New York Association of School Psychologists. Dr. Storie runs a part-time private practice, where she specializes in assessment of dyslexia, anxiety, and ADHD in children, adolescents, and college students. She earned her Ph.D. in School Psychology from Syracuse University in 2001, and has continued to adjunct at Syracuse University since that time. Dr. Storie’s research interests include dyslexia screenings, evidence-based practices for assessment and intervention of reading deficits, educator knowledge of effective reading practices, and impact of professional development aligned with Science of Reading on student outcomes.
