Rate My Professor Kathy Piechura-Couture

Dr. Kathy Jo Piechura-Couture serves as a full professor of Education at Stetson University, where she also holds a research faculty position with the Nina B. Hollis Institute of Educational Reform. Her academic credentials include a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction and an MA in Emotional Disturbance from the University of South Florida, as well as a BS in Elementary Education and Special Education (Emotionally Impaired) from Eastern Michigan University. For over twenty years, she has collaborated directly with teachers to research and implement best teaching practices, playing a pivotal role in developing innovative pedagogical strategies adopted in schools throughout the United States. She is nationally recognized for her work in single-gender education, having been featured on MSNBC, NPR's On Point, and in several documentaries, which has brought significant attention to Stetson University.

Piechura-Couture's research specializes in effective pedagogical practices for general and special needs populations, encompassing trauma and resiliency, restorative practices, student self-advocacy, infusing movement and the arts into the general curriculum, and differentiated instruction. She teaches courses such as educational psychology, human exceptionalities, differentiating instruction, and principal methods of instruction. Her influential publications include the highly cited "The Boy Factor: Can Single-Gender Classes Reduce the Over-Representation of Boys in Special Education?" (College Student Journal, 2013, 110 citations, co-authored with Elizabeth Heins and Mercedes Tichenor); "Coteaching: A Model for Education Reform" (Principal Leadership, 2006, 65 citations); "Parent Perceptions of a Co-Taught Inclusive Classroom" (Education, 2000, 55 citations); "Stetson Reads: An After School Tutorial Program for At-Risk Students" (Reading Improvement, 1999, 23 citations); and "The Lunch Bunch: Building Literacy in a Natural Way" (Florida Reading Quarterly, 2006). Recent contributions address Trauma/Restorative Informed Coaching in elementary programs (2024). She contributes to educational reform through Hollis Institute leadership committees, College of Arts and Sciences graduate council, service learning, and grant-funded projects like language development through focused play. Her lifelong commitment to teaching traces back to age five, when she built a backyard schoolhouse for neighborhood children.