John J. Hoover

John J. Hoover is an associate research professor in the School of Education at the University of Colorado Boulder, where his work focuses on culturally and linguistically responsive special education referral, assessment, and multi-tiered systems of supports (MTSS) for English learners and other diverse students. He is a former K–12 special educator who has taught students with learning disabilities and emotional/behavioral difficulties across grades K–12 in public and alternative settings, and has extensive experience working with diverse students representing multiple languages and cultures in several U.S. regions.

Hoover earned a BA in Elementary and Special Education (Intellectual Disabilities), an MA in Learning Disabilities and Emotional Disorders with an emphasis in reading, and a PhD in Curriculum specializing in Special Education. His research and grant-funded projects address multitiered instruction, curriculum differentiation, culturally competent teaching, and special education referral and assessment for culturally and linguistically diverse learners. In addition to Why Do English Learners Struggle With Reading?: Distinguishing Language Acquisition From Learning Disabilities, he has coauthored or coedited several books on response to intervention and MTSS, including works on linking assessment to instruction in multi-tiered models, differentiating learning differences from disabilities, and methods for teaching culturally and linguistically diverse exceptional learners.