Jonathan Schuster

Jonathan Schuster, PhD, has research interests in early word processing, the cognitive processes involved in reading comprehension, and psycholinguistics, specifically focusing on reading development. In the past, his research projects were concerned with the influence of reading goals and working memory span on reading comprehension, the meaning resolution of lexically ambiguous words, the perception of emotionally sensitive words, and the impact of text complexity on reading comprehension.

Schuster is the English Language Arts (ELA) Research Lead at Accessible Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Systems (ATLAS), a research center at the University of Kansas with more than 150 staff and more than $20M in annual revenues.

Schuster currently leads a project to investigate the characteristics of text-dependent analysis (TDA) instruction in middle and high school, aiming to develop a grant proposal focused on creating an intervention to improve student TDA performance. He has more than 10 years of experience developing ELA learning maps within ATLAS. He leads a team focused on developing learning map neighborhoods for several projects.

Some recent projects to which he has contributed include the Dynamic Learning Maps® (DLM®) Alternate Assessment System Writing Neighborhood project, the Shared Writing Instructional Model (SWIM) project, the Learning Map Collaboration project with the National Center on Deafblindness (NCDB), the Writing and Revising Interventions to Excel (WRITE) project, and the K–2 Pathways project.

For the DLM Writing Neighborhood and SWIM projects, he helped to develop learning map neighborhoods representing the acquisition of the critical knowledge, skills, and understandings involved in writing development for students with significant cognitive disabilities and intellectual disabilities.

He investigated how early communication topics (e.g., intentional communication, attention to words, and understanding events) contribute to later ELA and math content learning for students who are deafblind with complex needs for the Learning Map Collaboration project with NCDB.

For the WRITE project, Schuster contributed to developing learning map neighborhoods depicting the critical knowledge, skills, and understandings needed to produce compelling written arguments within a Career Technical Education context.

Finally, he will develop learning map neighborhoods representing the learning of K–2 ELA Essential Elements for students with disabilities in the K–2 Pathways project to design and develop map-based K–2 instruction and assessment products.

Schuster earned his PhD in cognitive psychology from the University of Kansas.