Lydia Sollenberger
PhD Student
Equity, Bilingualism & Biliteracy
Lydia.Sollenberger@colorado.edu
  • Pronouns: she/her/hers

Lydia Sollenberger is a doctoral student at the University of Colorado Boulder. Lydia received her undergraduate degree in Elementary Education with a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse endorsement from Illinois State University. During her time as a 3rd grade, dual language teacher in the suburbs of Chicago, she received her masters degree in special education. As a bilingual special educator, Lydia designed and taught the district’s cross-categorical self-contained dual language classroom. Her teaching experiences inspire work in graduate school. She teaches courses for elementary and secondary educators about differentiating instruction for students with disabilities and emergent bilinguals in the classroom. Lydia is also involved in research with Dr. John J. Hoover on Multitiered Systems of Support (MTSS) in rural parts of Colorado which has historically misidentified emergent bilinguals for special education. Lydia plans to focus her research on inclusive writing instruction for bilingual children with disabilities.

Role of Special Educators in MTSS. Project designed to examine how special educators in rural school communities are engaged in their schoolwide MTSS frameworks prior to special education referral, with specific emphasis on the education of diverse learners.

“Los padres deben ser los primeros maestros de los hijos”: Parent-Teacher Partnership in Virtual Learning Spaces. Qualitative research that explores teacher reports of the importance of Latinx parents in the education of their children during virtual learning of the 2020-2021 pandemic school year.

EDUC 4023-5485 Differentiation in Secondary Education, University of Colorado Boulder (Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023). Instructor of Record for course that examines the complexities of identification, instruction, and inclusion of students who are identified with disabilities in the general education classroom.

Field Coach (Fall 2021-Fall 2022). Supervisor of student teachers in the Elementary Education Major. Worked collaboratively with mentor teachers and student teachers through formative and summative observation cycles to grow as novice co-teachers and complete requirements for licensure.

Rethinking Inclusive and Special Education Certificate, University of Colorado Boulder (Summer 2021-Fall 2021). Designer of courses including Introduction to Inclusive and Special Education, Creating and Fostering Inclusive Learning Environments and Strategies for Inclusive Classrooms.

EDUC 3350 Dis/ability in Classrooms, University of Colorado Boulder (Fall 2020). Instructor of Record for Elementary Education Major Course that examines the complexities of identification, instruction, and inclusion of students who are identified with disabilities in the general education classroom.

Sollenberger, L. (In development). Book Review: Language, Learning, and Disability in the Education of Young Bilingual Children

Hoover, J. J. & Sollenberger, L. (In development). Culturally and linguistically responsive IEPs. Co-author with Faculty Mentor for an Invited chapter in R. T. Boon (ed.) English learners with learning disabilities: A guide for co-teachers in the inclusive classroom, Charlette, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Technical Reports: "Sollenberger, L., etc. (2021). Review of Denver Public Schools curricular materials for English-Spanish comparability. Content area: Literacy: Denver, Colorado. 2012-2021.