Department of Counseling, Clinical & School Psychology

Vitae

Office Number:
  Education 2105

Phone Number:
  (805) 893-5914

E-mail:
  education.ucsb.edu mquirk

Matthew Quirk

Assistant Professor, Ph.D. (University of Georgia)

Emphasis:
School Psychology Credential

Research Interests:
Reading assessment; Reading intervention; Academic motivation; Reading engagement; Teacher/student relationships; Closing the achievement gap in urban classrooms

Biography:
Matthew Quirk is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology. After receiving a B.S. in elementary education from Penn State, he taught at both the pre-k and 2nd grade levels. His experiences teaching in schools that served students from low SES backgrounds had a significant influence on his interest in children’s early literacy development and academic motivation. Quirk’s post-graduate work at the University of Georgia focused on the interplay between the development of students’ early reading skills and their motivation for engaging in reading related activities. After receiving a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia in Educational Psychology, he spent two years as an Assistant Professor at California State University, Long Beach. Since coming to UCSB, Dr. Quirk has been primarily engaged in research that has focused on Response to Intervention (RTI) and early screening for academic problems.

Recent Publications:
Quirk, M., Schwanenflugel, P. J., & Webb, M. . A short-term longitudinal study of the relationship between motivation to read and reading fluency skill in second grade. Journal of Literacy Research, 41, 196-227. 2009. [Refereed Journal Article]

Quirk, M. Motivating the development of reading fluency. In M. Kuhn & P. Schwanenflugel (Eds.), Fluency in the classroom (pp. 75-91). New York: Guilford. 2008. [Book Chapter]

Knudson, R.E., Zitzer-Comfort, C., Quirk, M. & Alexander, P. The California State University Early Assessment Program. The Clearing House, 81, 227-231. 2008. [Refereed Journal Article]

Kamphaus, R., Quirk, M., & Kroncke, A. Learning disabilities. In R. Kamphaus & J. Campbell (Eds.), Psychodiagnostic assessment of children: Dimensional and categorical approaches (pp. 87-118). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons. 2006. [Book Chapter]

Quirk, M. To retain or not to retain?. In S. Neuharth-Pritchett, B.D. Payne, & J.C. Reiff (Eds.), Perspectives on elementary education: A casebook for critically analyzing issues of diversity (pp. 84-87). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. 2004. [Book Chapter]

Awards and Honors:
School Psychology Research Collaboration Conference (SPRCC) Early Career Scholar, 2009

Affiliations:
American Educational Research Association
California Association of School Psychologists
International Reading Association
Motivation in Education SIG (AERA)
National Reading Conference