Patricia Mathes is an internationally respected researcher and teacher educator. Over the course of her academic career she has received over $55m in federally funded research grants focused on best practices in literacy instruction and the prevention of reading disabilities, teaching reading to English language learner, using Computer Adaptive Testing for Continuous Progress Monitoring, implementing Response-to-Intervention, and using technology to support the instructional coaching of teachers (i.e., Virtual Coaching). Several of her studies are now considered landmark studies.
Dr. Mathes now adds woman owned
business owner and entrepreneur to her list of endeavors. In 2016, Dr. Mathes retired from academia to launch Hoot Education, Inc., after having conducted research on how to best coach and support teacher using technology over the past decade. She continues to hold the title of Texas Instruments Professor Emerita of Evidence-Based Education Emeritus at Southern Methodist University. During her tenure at SMU, she directed of the Institute for Evidence-Based Education from 2003 to 2015. It was during time that she was awarded $8.5M in federally-funded research grants focused specifically on what has become Hoot Coach. This research continues into the present time, although she is no longer directly involved.
She is the author of numerous articles, chapters, books, and curricular materials related to reading and reading disabilities, accommodating academic diversity, best practices for struggling readers. Importantly, she has a history of developing intervention testing them through randomized control trials, then making them available commercially once they have been validated as effective. Likewise, she serves as the current Editor-in-Chief of the Annals of Dyslexia, is on the editorial board of several scholarly journal; and provides nationwide professional development focused on closing the research to practice gap and improving teacher practice.