Faculty Directory
C. Patrick Proctor
Department Chair, Teaching, Curriculum, and Society
Professor
C. Patrick Proctor
Ed.D.
Contact
Campion Hall Room 121
Telephone: 617-552-6466
Email: charles.proctor.1@bc.edu
ORCID 0000-0001-5666-2765
Education
- Ed.D., Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
- M.A., Stanford University, Stanford, CA
- B.A., Clark University, Worcester, MA
Courses
Teaching Language Arts
Bilingual Literacy and Literature
Dissertation Seminar in Curriculum and Instruction
Foundations of Bilingual Education
Historical and Political Contexts of Curriculum
Foundations of Language and Literacy Development
Contemporary Issues and Methods in Literacy Research
Research Interests
Bilingualism in school settings; Language and literacy development; Reading comprehension; Bilingual teacher education; Research-Practice calibrations; Instructional interventions
Expertise
- Bilingualism & Immigration
- Curriculum & Instruction
- Language Learning & Literacy
Department
Profile
I am a professor and educational researcher focusing on bilingualism, bilingual education, language, and literacy. Theoretically, my work attempts to merge critical and developmental perspectives on language, literacy, and bilingualism in education. In terms of praxis, I work directly with teachers and administrators on issues of bilingual education and language-based literacy instruction, particularly in schools and districts characterized by student (and ideally teacher) multilingualism.
I started my career as an educator as a Spanish-English dual language teacher in the Detroit Public Schools. Later, I worked as a bilingual resource teacher in Waltham, Massachusetts and as an education specialist at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. After earning my doctorate, I joined Boston College in 2006, where my early work focused on psychological and developmental models of bilingualism and literacy.
Later, I took insights from that body of work to inform the development of multilingual literacy curricula that took multilingualism into account as part of the curriculum design process, and these days, I am invested in implementing those curricula in sites around the US. Finally, I work very closely with practicing bilingual teachers around applying contemporary models of bilingualism and learning to bilingual education contexts here in Massachusetts.
GLOBAL SPOTLIGHT
Bilingualism and second language acquisition among Haitian-speaking immigrants in Santiago, Chile
FUNDED RESEARCH
2020 – 2025
- Co-Principal Investigator. Evaluating the Efficacy of the CLAVES Intervention: An Intervention Focused on Comprehension, Academic Language, and Vocabulary for English Learner Students. $3,298,217, Institute of Education Sciences Grant #R305A200095
2020 – 2023
- Co-Principal Investigator (M.J. Kieffer, PI & E. Cappella, co-I). Exploring the effects of heterogeneous grouping on English learners’ language, reading comprehension, and social network development. $1,398,609. Institute of Education Sciences, Grant #R305A200069
2014 – 2018
- Principal Investigator (R.D. Silverman & J.R. Harring co –PIs). The CLAVES Intervention Project: Developing a Supplemental Intervention for Comprehension, Linguistic Awareness, and Vocabulary in English for Spanish Speakers. Institute of Education Sciences, $1,470,000, Grant #R305A140114
2014 – 2017
- Co-Principal Investigator (M.E. Brisk, co-PI & L. O’Dwyer, co-PI). "The Russell Way" : Study of ELL students in mainstream classrooms. Boston College Collaborative Fellows, $150,000
Editorial Work
- Editorial Board, Journal of Educational Psychology (2022 – present)
- Editorial Board, Reading and Writing: An interdisciplinary journal (2013 – present)
- Editorial Board, Elementary School Journal (2012 – present)
- Editor, Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Services in Schools (2017 – 2020).
- Associate Editor, Child Development (July, 2018 – June, 2019)
- Associate Editor, Applied Psycholinguistics (October 2014 – September 2018).
MEMBERSHIPS
- American Educational Research Association
- Literacy Research Association
- Multistate Association for Bilingual Education