Sabina Rak Neugebauer
Postdoctoral Fellow
Center for Behavioral Education and Research
University of Connecticut
Educational Psychology Department
249 Glenbrook Road, Unit 2064
Storrs, CT 06269-2064
sabina.neugebauer@uconn.edu
EDUCATION
Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA
Ed. D. Candidate, September 2005-May 2011
Concentration: Human Development and Education
Dissertation
“Reading between the Lines: Fluctuations in Literacy Motivation in School and Outside
School for Language Minority and English-only Fifth Graders”
Advisor: Catherine Snow
Qualifying Paper
“Validation Study of the Language Efficacy and Acceptance Dimension Scale (LEADS)”
Qualifying Paper Committee: Catherine Snow, Thomas Hehir and Hirokazu Yoshikawa
Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA
Ed.M. in Language and Literacy, August 2005
Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
B. A. honors in Psychology and French Studies, May 2002
FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS
Center for Applied Linguistics G. Richard Tucker Fellow, 2009-2010
David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies Summer Travel Grant, 2006-2010
Harvard Graduate School of Education Conference Grant 2009, 2010
David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies Conference Travel Grant, 2009, 2010
Jeanne Chall Literacy Travel Grant, 2006, 2010
Michael Crichton Fellowship, Department of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, 2009
Dean’s Summer Fellowship, Harvard Graduate School of Education, 2008
Foreign Language Area Studies Summer Fellowship for Language Study, 2006
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Literacy Motivation Fluctuation Study
Principal Investigator (2008-2010)
Sabina Rak Neugebauer
Designed, led, and analyzed a study to examine reading motivation outside and inside school for
language minority and English-only students over time. Collected and constructed daily reading
logs, administered demographic surveys as well as commonly used reading motivation
questionnaires to 119 fifth graders across two public schools.
Peruvian Education and Reading Upwards (PERU), Calca, Peru
Principal Investigator (2006-2010)
Designed, led, and analyzed a four-year longitudinal study to examine the relationship between
read aloud pedagogy and reading comprehension in elementary school students in an indigenous
village in Calca, Peru. Collected ethnographic data, conducted professional development
workshops for local teachers, constructed and collected surveys on the local reading practices of
teachers and parents, administered standardized literacy measures to 1st-3rd graders, designed and
implemented a literacy program with local stakeholders, and supervised several research
assistants in data collection, data entry, and local pedagogy. Research funded by the David
Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies and the Foreign Language Area Studies
Fellowship (FLAS).
Increasing Comprehension Online, Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Center
for Applied Special Technology
Graduate Student Researcher (2005-2008)
Designed appropriate text and digital supports for a literacy intervention for young adolescents,
collected student performance data, instructed fifth graders, led professional development
workshops, presented at conferences, edited and submitted publications, and reviewed literature
related to engaging literacy practices for young adolescents.
Cross-Linguistic Fluency Study, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Graduate Student Researcher (2004)
Collected, coded, and entered data. Conducted psycho-educational assessments using a battery of
tests with 4th -6th graders that included standardized and researcher designed measures.
Hospital Interzonal de Agudos Eva Perón, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Research Assistant (2003)
Administered neuropsychological assessments to adolescents, and oversaw speech therapy
sessions and general counseling services.
STEP-BD Family Experience Study, Yale University, Department of Psychiatry
Research Assistant (2002-2003)
Interviewed caregivers of people with bipolar illness, collected, entered and analyzed data, and
coordinated research among ten research sites.
Rene Descartes University, Department of Psycholinguistics Paris, France
Research Assistant (Spring-Summer 2001)
Administered and scheduled cross linguistic phonemic sensitivity tests, and conducted literature
reviews on cross linguistic transfer.
Sabina Rak Neugebauer
Randomized Control Trial of Estrogen Replacement Therapy on Alzheimer’s Disease
Columbia University, Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, Faculty of Medicine, New York, NY
Research Assistant (Summer 2000)
Screened subjects to determine their eligibility for a randomized control trial on the effects of
estrogen replacement therapy on Alzheimer’s disease.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
H710A: Teaching Literacy for Equity: Situated Learning, Harvard Graduate School of
Education
Instructor (Fall 2010)
Designed syllabus, taught course sessions, graded assignments, and monitored course website.
H813: Bilingual Learners: Literacy Development and Instruction, Harvard Graduate
School of Education
Teaching Fellow (Winter-Spring 2010)
Lectured, edited and graded student papers, coordinated guest lectures, as well as designed and
co-wrote course assignments.
EDU E-128: Universal Design for Learning, Harvard Extension School
Instructor (Winter-Spring 2009)
Designed syllabus, taught course sessions, graded assignments, and monitored course website.
H870: Reading Comprehension, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Teaching Fellow (Winter-Spring 2008 and 2009))
Led small-group discussions, lectures, edited and graded student writing assignments.
H331 Risk and Resilience in Social Contexts from Birth to Young Adulthood: Strategies of
Prevention and Intervention, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Teaching Fellow (Fall-Winter 2007)
Led small-group discussions, occasional lectures, edited and graded student writing assignments.
A Better Chance School, Richmond, California
Educational Specialist (2004)
Instructed students ages 7-16 with severe autism on daily living skills as well as print readiness
activities.
INVITED LECTURES
Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington, DC
Guest Lecture (October, 2009)
Lecture entitled “Culturally Sensitive Research-Based Interventions: A Case Study of Calca”
Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington, DC
Guest Lecture (October, 2009)
Sabina Rak Neugebauer
Lecture entitled “Universal Design for Learning: Teaching All Subsets of Learners”
GSAS 1795 The Politics of Language and Identity in Latin America, Harvard University
Department of Anthropology
Guest Lecture (Spring 2008)
Lecture entitled “Socio-cultural Literacy Practices: Group Specific Interventions”
EDU 745A Reading and Language: Theory and Research, Salem State College. Salem, MA
Guest Lecture (Spring 2008)
Lecture entitled “English Language Learners in Special Education: Over and Under-
representation”
EDS 860 Teaching English Language Learners in the Mainstream, Salem State College
Salem, MA
Guest Lecture (Spring 2008)
Lecture entitled “English Language Learners in Special Education: Inclusive Models of
Education”
LEADERSHIP AND SERVICE
What Works Clearing House
Certified Reviewer (2011)
Review manuscripts on evidence-based interventions using What Works Clearing House
standards.
Bilingual Research Journal
Reviewer (2007-Present)
Review manuscripts for a peer review journal on bilingualism.
Harvard Educational Review
Manuscripts Editor (2006-2008)
Reviewed, solicited, edited and published manuscripts as well as distributed manuscripts to all
other board members and conducted public relations with authors.
Student Advisory Group to the Faculty Appointments Committee
Student Member (2008)
Assisted the faculty, at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, with student and candidate
outreach, and organized student and faculty discussions to promote diverse faculty appointments.
PUBLICATIONS
Neugebauer, Rak, S. (in preparation) “Context-Sensitive Motivations to Read for Adolescent
Struggling Readers: Does the Motivation for Reading Questionnaire Tell the Full Story?”
Sabina Rak Neugebauer
Neugebauer, Rak, S. (under review) “A Reader Inside and Out: Exploring More Ecologically
Valid Understandings of Reading Motivation for Linguistically Diverse Fifth Graders”
Neugebauer, Rak, S. (in press). A new measure to assess linguistic self-esteem in adolescent
Latino bilinguals. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences.
Neugebauer, Rak, S., & Currie-Rubin, R. (2009). Read-alouds in Calca, Peru: A bilingual
indigenous context. The Reading Teacher, 62, 5, 396-405.
Proctor, P., Dalton, B., Uccelli, P., Biancarosa, G., Mo, E., Snow, C., and Neugebauer, S. (2009)
Improving comprehension online: effects of deep vocabulary instruction with bilingual and
monolingual fifth graders. Reading & Writing, DOI: 10.1007/s11145-009-9218-2.
Villegas, M., Neugebauer, Rak, S., Venegas, K. (2008) Indigenous Knowledge and
Education: Sites of Struggle, Strength and Survivance. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Educational
Publishing Group.
Neugebauer, Rak, S.(2008). Editor’s Review of Double the Work and The Language Demands
of School. Harvard Educational Review, 1, 252-263.
Neugebauer, Rak, S., & Currie-Rubin, R. (2008). Story of David, Revista, 65.
PRESENTATIONS
Currie-Rubin, R. & Neugebauer, S. (June, 2011) Informing Instruction through Writing
Assessments: Identifying language and learning difficulties for Spanish-speakers learning
English. Poster presented at the International Conference on Reading, Spelling and Writing
Development; Enhancing Literacy Development in European languages, Prague.
Neugebauer, S. (July, 2010). Daily differences in reading motivation: Young monolingual and
language-minority adolescents’ motivation to read inside and outside of school. Poster presented
at the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading Annual Meeting. Berlin, Germany.
Neugebauer, S. (May, 2010). Early Adolescents' Out-of-School and In-School Daily Literacy
Motivation: Contextually Determined or Trait-Like Explanations. Paper to be presented at the
American Educational Research Association Meeting. Denver, CO.
Neugebauer, S. (October, 2009). Culturally Sensitive Reading Programs for Second Language
Learners in Calca, Peru. Presentation at the Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington, DC.
Neugebauer, S. (October, 2009). The Universally Designed Classroom. Presentation at the
Center for Applied Linguistics.Washington, DC.
Sabina Rak Neugebauer
Neugebauer, S (May, 2009). Fluctuating Reading Motivation in Language Minority Students: A
Study across Time and Contexts. Paper accepted at the Language and Reading Comprehension
for Immigrant Children Conference (LARCIC). Toronto, Canada.
Neugebauer, S. (March, 2009). Read Alouds in Calca Peru: Culturally Congruent Literacy
Practices. Paper presented at the Politics of Comparison at the 53rd Annual Comparative and
International Education Society, Charleston, South Carolina.
Mo, E., Neugebauer, S., Dalton, B & Proctor, P (April, 2009). Investigating effects of reading
and vocabulary strategy supports on vocabulary development. Paper presented at the American
Educational Research Association Meeting. San Diego, CA.
Neugebauer, S., Uccelli, P., Dalton, B., Mo, E., Proctor, P., Snow, C., and Vue, G. (July, 2008).
Adolescent Newcomers: Improving Vocabulary and Comprehension in a Universally-Designed
Scaffolded Digital Reading Environment. Paper presented at the 22nd World Congress on
Reading at the International Reading Association Meeting, San Jose, Costa Rica.
Dalton, B., Proctor, P., Uccelli, P., Snow, C.E., Mo, E., Neugebauer, S., Mo, E., Robinson, K. &
Vue,G. (June, 2008). Improving Comprehension Online Project, Year 3: The effect of a
universally designed strategic digital literacy environment on 5th grade monolingual English and
bilingual students’ reading achievement. 3rd Annual Research
Neugebauer, S. (2007). English Language Learners in Special Education: Student and Language
Self-Image. Paper presentation at the American Educational Research Association Meeting.
Chicago.
Neugebauer, S. (2006). Meaning Making of Special Education Placement for ELLs in Special
Education. Oral paper presentation at the 18th Annual Conference on Ethnographic and
Qualitative Research in Education, Cedarville, Ohio.
Neugebauer, S and Mancilla-Martinez, J (2006). Profiling Young Spanish-English Bilingual
Children’s Vocabulary Growth: Measurement Matters. Round table discussion held at the 2006
Student Research Conference and International Forum, Cambridge, MA.
Neugebauer, S. (2005). A Comparison of Errors Produced by an English Language Learner and
A Monolingual Student on Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary Measures. Poster session
presented at the 2005 Student Research Conference and International Forum, Cambridge, MA.
Neugebauer, S. (2005). A Comparative Study of the Morphological, Phonological and
Vocabulary Errors Produced by Children with Specific Language Impairment and Children
Learning English as a Second Language. Round table discussion held at the 2005 Student
Research Conference and International Forum, Cambridge, MA.
ORGANIZED SYMPOSIA
Sabina Rak Neugebauer
Neugebauer, S. (Chair), Ippolito, J., Steele, J., Samson, J. (March, 2008) Symposia: Improving
Adolescents' Literacy Skills: What Do We Know and What Do We Have to Learn? Held at the
American Educational Research Association Meeting, New York, New York.
Neugebauer, S., and Samson, J. (April, 2007) Over and Under Representation of English
Language Learners in Special Education: Causes and Consequences. Harvard Graduate School
of Education, Cambridge, MA.
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
American Educational Research Association
International Reading Association
Society for Research in Child Development
Society for the Scientific Study of Reading
LANGUAGES
English, French, Spanish and a working knowledge of Yiddish and Portuguese