March 22, 2016

To Whom It May Concern,

It is a pleasure to write this letter of recommendation for Hannah Vanderhorst who is applying
for a position in your school/district. I have had the opportunity to work with Hannah in
several capacities, including as an instructor in our comprehensive literacy methods class taken
during the Internship year and as the Faculty Program Coordinator for the Special Education
Program at Michigan State University. In this letter, I would like to provide you with a
glimpse of the professional knowledge, skills, and dispositions our students will bring to your
faculty, while also speaking directly about this applicant.

Department of
Counseling,
Educational Psychology,
and Special Education

Richard S Prawat
Chairperson
Michigan State University
447 Erickson Hall
East Lansing, Michigan
48824-1034
517/353-6417
FAX: 517/353-6393

MSU is an affirmative-action,
equal opportunity institution.

We believe that the special education program at MSU is providing comprehensive and cutting
edge professional preparation. Specifically, we have tried to prepare our teacher candidates
both broadly to encompass the many roles that special education teachers now play in schools,
but also with depth and quality within these critical roles. Special education teachers today
must be able to participate in at least four areas, including (1) providing remedial instruction
for students who may have significant skill gaps, (2) participating on any number of
collaborative problem-solving teams, such as Response to Intervention, co-teaching, IEPs,
pre-referral teams, and multidisciplinary evaluation teams, (3) provide access to the general
education curriculum within inclusive settings (i.e., instructional, behavioral, and social
interventions, accommodations, differentiated instruction, Universally Designed Learning), and
(4) transition programming, including key skills related to self-determination, self-advocacy,
and self-regulation as students make transitions throughout the lifespan (grade level and
school-to-post secondary).
Looking across these four areas, we have tried to develop significant depth and breadth in each.
Our students are prepared to teach non-conventional readers and writers using a variety of
instructional methods and approaches. Our students are prepared to conduct comprehensive
assessments in the core areas of literacy and mathematics and use data to inform instructional
planning for students. One of the hallmarks of our preparation has been to have teachers utilize
evidence-based interventions in their practices. We fully expect that Hannah can fulfill a widerange of expectations you may have for your special education faculty, whether that is to
improve IEP students basic skill levels in resource settings, delivering Tier II or III instruction
as part of a larger RTI initiative, or providing access to the general education curriculum
through a variety of learning-to-learn strategies, instructional accommodations, or cognitive
strategies. Our graduates also have had an entire course devoted to technology, so bring this
technical expertise to their teaching.
One of the things that Hannah will bring to your faculty will be a professional disposition to be
a team player that has a broader role in the building, through participation on a wide range of
collaborative problem solving teams. Effective communication and collaborative skills are
vital to the special education teachers success in the building, whether interacting with
parents/families, general education colleagues who are the primary teachers for most students
with disabilities, or through ancillary personnel who provides services to a child with an IEP
(i.e., school psychologist, social worker, physical therapist, speech and language, paraeducators). As districts move into school wide programs like Response to Intervention,
Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports, or Universal Design for Learning, the premium
on effective collaboration skills is heightened. Hannah is ready to assume this challenge and

brings knowledge of both the collaborative process and can play a key role in providing direct
service within these system approaches. The successful implementation of these programs
requires faculty with both skill and willand Hannah is positioned to assume key roles as a
member of these comprehensive teams as an intervention specialist, behavioral specialist, or
co-teaching partner. Whether thinking about how to better implement the Response to
Intervention system in general education classrooms or providing intense, tailored
interventions to individual students, we expect our graduates to become valued and valuable
members of any collaborative problem solving team.
Hannah is currently a student in my CEP 804a Literacy Methods course. At MSU, students
have three literacy methods courses throughout their program. This final course focuses on
providing teachers with a balanced approach to providing instruction across the five core areas
of reading identified by the National Reading Panel (phonological awareness, phonics,
vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension), writing instruction, and teaching learning-to-learn
strategies to help students access core curriculum in content areas (e.g., science and social
studies). In addition to developing a comprehensive literacy assessment system, students
completed projects in reading, writing, and inquiry. A goal of the course is to engage students
as active learners who can be in search of knowledge, not just consumers of isolated skill
instruction. To accomplish this goal, Hannah is developing an inquiry unit on an
environmental topic of related to the celebration of Earth Day. Hannah is making a critical
shift with her 6th-8th grade students with disabilities (LD, EBD, ADHD, ASD), a group who
often receives remedial skill instruction at the expense of cognitive strategy instruction within
inquiry-based instruction. Hannah is shifting the focus of learning by engaging her students as
researchers or experts in understanding this informational topic. Hannah is scaffolding
learning across the entire research process, including helping students to Plan their inquiry,
identify main ideas and supporting details, organize information from many different sources
(books, interviews, video, data charts), and then drafting ideas into coherent texts. Most
importantly, students will publish their research on the environment to an authentic audience.
This shift in focus positions students as active learners in search of information (producers). I
sincerely hope that a prospective employer can view Hannahs inquiry unit, as it will give you
insight into a teacher who understands her students deeply and then provides appropriates
scaffolds and supports to work in each childs zone of proximal development. In a nutshell,
Hannah is simultaneously providing direct, explicit, and scaffolded instruction on specific
cognitive strategies, while also helping her students to become metacognitive of the research
process. This is a very complex piece of teaching, but one that is emphasized more than ever
with the new Common Core Curriculum Standards. More importantly, Hannah is witnessing
that powerful instruction, especially helping to directly teach her students to be more strategic
learners, is a critical piece of student engagement and motivation.
Beyond the content of a comprehensive curriculum, I believe there are intrapersonal and
interpersonal skills that mark Hannah as an outstanding colleague. I am aware of who asks
questions and is fully engaged in their learning. In fact, among 10 Interns placed in the
Chicago Public Schools this year, it has been Hannah who has been a consistent spokesperson
for the group, especially when there have been challenges related to technology or getting
access to content that will strengthen ones learning. I expect that Hannah will bring a sense of
self-advocacy to the students she teaches---that she will stand up for the rights of all children
who are different. This means that she must be a leader in helping her future school in
providing disability awareness to students and to support her faculty colleagues. Finally, there
is an important difference between young teachers who want to help and those who maintain
high expectations through personal responsibility. I believe Hannah is in this latter group
and this is a key disposition for new teachers to develop. Rather than creating a kind of codependence where too much support is provided and not removed, I believe Hannah holds high
expectations for all of her students and expects effort from every child. If I were building a
school from the ground up, I would want people like Hannahpeople who are focused on
improving the lives of their students through rigorous learning, high expectation, and able to
share their expertise with others in professional learning communities of all kinds.

To conclude, I believe Hannah would be an important addition to any faculty. In this letter, I
have tried to provide some detail about the professional skills and dispositions that our students
develop as part of their teacher preparation program. We believe that Hannah will be an
outstanding team player, will be highly accountable to your students, provide instructional
expertise to many, and can help serve your school by participating in the multiple roles
expected of todays special education professional. We are extremely proud of our teacher
candidates and confident that Hannah Vanderhorst will make a good school better. As the
Director of the Special Education Program at Michigan State University, I believe we are
preparing the top special education practitioners in the nation. This is a bold statement. If you
interview Hannah Vanderhorst, I believe you will see evidence of why I believe this to be true.
Of course, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to write (mariaget@msu.edu) or
call (517) 432-1981.
Sincerely,
Troy V. Mariage, Ph. D.
Associate Professor
Program Coordinator
Special Education Program
620 Farm Lane, #339 Erickson Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
Phone: 517-432-1981
Email: mariaget@msu.edu