Mary Hoch, Ed.D.

M.Ed. in Reading

Teaching Beginning Reading
Teaching Comprehension and Content Area Reading
Teaching Writing
Diagnosis and Assessment of Reading
Instructional Strategies for Literacy Interventions
Practicum A: Literacy Interventions for Elementary Students
Practicum B: Literacy Interventions for Secondary Students

Ed.D in Reading, Language, and Literacy

Language, Linguistics, and Literacy

M.A.T. in Elementary Education

Literacy Methods I: Grades K-4

Areas of Expertise: 

• Students who Struggle with Literacy
• Reading Assessment and Diagnosing Difficulties
• Reading Comprehension
• Instructional Interventions
• Literacy Tutoring
• Digital Literacy
• Online Learning

Biography:

Dr. Hoch has been teaching at NLU since 2011, and has been Director of The Reading Center since 2012.  She teaches classes in literacy, including clinical courses.  She serves as Director of The Reading Center, which includes supervising practica in literacy at Lisle and online, and overseeing the practicum experience for all reading students.

Before joining NLU, Dr. Hoch worked at several Joliet Public School sites in various capacities, including Assistant Principal, Curriculum Specialist, and Reading Teacher.  Additionally, she worked in general education as a classroom teacher at several southwest suburban elementary school sites.  Her entire elementary teaching and administration career was spent working with students of diverse backgrounds who struggle with learning.  Throughout her career, her focus has always been literacy learning.

Education:

Ed.D. Reading and Language, National Louis University, 2015
M.A. Educational Administration, Governors State University, 2005
B.A. Elementary Education, Lewis University, 1997

Research and Interests:

Dr. Hoch has authored practice-based publications, in collaboration with teachers and colleagues, which focus on instructional strategy design and implementation, including her recent book:

Hoch, M.L., & McNally, J.L. (2020). Empowering readers: Integrated strategies to comprehend expository texts. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

In addition, select peer-reviewed journal publications include:

Hoch, M.L. McCarty, R., Gurvitz, D., & Sitkoski, I. (2018). Five key principles: Guided inquiry with multimodal text sets. The Reading Teacher, 72 (6), 700-710. doi:10.1002/trtr.1781.

Hoch, M.L., Davis, E., & Kotarba, C. (2018). Print to screen: A scaffolded approach to digital literacy development. Illinois Reading Council Journal, 46 (1), 25-39.

Nagel, C. & Hoch, M. (2014). Understanding power and fear - School integration in the South (1954-1964). Reading.org, Available at https://www.literacyworldwide.org/docs/default-source/member-benefits/bridges/ila-bridges-7003.pdf

Hoch, M., Bernhardt, R., Murphy-Schiller, M., & Fisher, P.J. (2013). Three important words: Students choose vocabulary to build comprehension of informational text. Illinois Reading Council Journal, 41 (3), 3-12.

Most recently, she concluded a research study involving the use of digital reading and writing tools with students of all ages.  This study was conducted at NLU’s reading clinic, and included students who were experiencing difficulties with various areas of literacy and those learning English.  Her work contributed to a growing body of research on helping students experience success with literacy in a digital age.  Primarily, this work focused on providing a scaffolded approach to addressing critical online reading and writing skills.  She plans to continue to study literacy learning with digital technologies within the clinical setting.

Dr. Hoch presents her work at local, state, national, and international conferences, workshops, and webinars.

Contact Information:

NLU Lisle campus
(630) 874-4533
mary.hoch@nl.edu 
https://nl.edu/national-college-of-education/center-for-literacy/