Tracy Spies

Tracy Spies is a professor at the University of Wyoming where she holds the Fisher Family Professor of Literacy Education position. She held multiple positions in the elementary setting including instructional assistant, bilingual teacher, literacy coordinator/coach, assistant principal and principal. She earned her doctorate in educational psychology with an emphasis in Hispanic bilingual education from Texas A&M University. Before coming to UW, Dr. Spies was at the University of Nevada Las Vegas for 13 years. She considers herself as a practitioner-scholar exploring meaningful curriculum access for underserved students through language and literacy development at the intersection of students’ multiple identities (e.g., multilingual learners with learning disabilities). Her inquiry efforts focus on (a) understanding how language and literacy focused interventions support content learning, (b) examining the influence of teachers’ self-efficacy and agency on their practice; and (c) translating research for educator use. Her work has been funded through various state and federal funding programs including the Institute of Education Sciences, the Office of English Language Acquisition, and the Office of Special Education Programs in which she has served as a Principal Investigator, Co-PI, or Co-Investigator.