School of Education faculty awarded Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award

June 10, 2026 1 minute read

Global Research and Teaching Excellence in Action

Katie Danielson, PhD, assistant professor in the School of Education, has received a highly competitive Fulbright U.S. Scholar award for the 2026-27 academic year. The honor recognizes excellence in teaching and research, as well as a commitment to advancing global collaboration.

Danielson will conduct research in Oslo, Norway, where her project, “Cross-Comparative Approaches to Strengthening Reading Comprehension Through Classroom Discussion,” aims to advance literacy instruction by exploring how classroom discussions develop over time to support reading comprehension.

During her fellowship, Danielson will collaborate with faculty, school leaders, and policymakers to analyze how the quality of classroom talk in upper elementary and middle school develops progressively and to create a research-informed tool that illustrates the continuum of discussion development. Danielson will partner with University of Oslo and gather data in local school classrooms. Data from Norway and the United States will be reviewed as part of the project.

Danielson says, “This research is going to be helpful because we will gather data from multiple classrooms and teachers in Oslo and be able to think about how discussion unfolds in Norwegian classrooms in comparison to those in the U.S. It’s a great opportunity to learn from other people and places and create relationships for ongoing learning between the University of Portland and University of Oslo.

Using Qualitative Classroom Research to Improve Discussion-based Literacy Instruction for Educators

Through qualitative analysis of classroom observations and interviews, the project will generate resources for educators working to strengthen discussion-based literacy instruction.

“Children have so many wonderful ideas and we don’t hear them because the teachers talk so much,” Danielson said. She suggested that teachers could step back and allow for children to share their ideas. This research will help teachers engage in the cognitive work of fostering discussion.

“Verbal discussion and reasoning is so important today because of how AI is coming to the forefront,” Danielson said. Talking supports learning and it helps foster continuous learning for a lifetime, which is an important piece to Danielson’s work.

Additional resources

Master of Arts in Teaching program

Reading Intervention Endorsement certificate

Fulbright U.S. Scholar program