Hilary Dack

Profile

Dr. Hilary Dack is an Associate Professor in the department of Middle, Secondary, and K-12 Education. Her areas of specialization are differentiated instruction and effective instructional decision-making in K-12 general education classrooms.

Dr. Dack teaches courses on the science of learning, middle grades education, instructional design, and differentiating instruction for academically diverse learners. She recently received the Cato College of Education’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Before earning her Ph.D., Dr. Dack taught social studies, language arts, science, math, and English as a second language at the middle grades level. She regularly leads professional development workshops for elementary, middle, and high school faculties on differentiated instruction, the science of learning, and high-quality curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices.

Dr. Dack’s current research focuses on how teacher education programs prepare preservice and early career teachers for effective instructional decision-making. Her research has been published in leading journals across multiple fields, including Journal of Teacher Education, Journal of Counseling & Development, Theory & Research in Social Education, and Teaching and Teacher Education. Her publications for practitioners have appeared in Phi Delta Kappan and Educational Leadership, and she serves on the International Editorial Advisory Board of Learning and Instruction.

Dr. Dack’s scholarship has earned the American Educational Research Association’s Social Studies Research SIG Outstanding Paper Award and the Cato College of Education’s Award for Excellence in Research. She was also the recipient of the University of Virginia’s Bruce Gansneder Outstanding Dissertation Award and the University of Virginia’s Edgar F. Shannon Award given annually to the School of Education’s outstanding graduate. Dr. Dack is the current president of the National Association of Professors of Middle Level Education and has served as a resource expert on middle grades education to North Carolina legislators and policymakers.

Education

• Ph.D. – University of Virginia, Curriculum & Instruction
• M.Ed. – University of Virginia, Gifted Education
• J.D. – University of North Carolina School of Law
• B.A. – Davidson College, English