Alia Adel Ammar

Alia A. Ammar is passionate about education, equity, and teaching. She earned her B.A. in Psychology with a minor in English Literature (2007) and an M.A. in International and Comparative Education with a concentration in international education development and policy (2014) from the American University in Cairo. These two complementary degrees allowed Alia to serve as an International Baccalaureate (IB) English Language & Literature Department Leader and teacher of IB English Language & Literature, Humanities, and Drama for six years at an international school in Cairo, Egypt. She continues to serve as an IB Examiner for MYP5’s Personal Projects.

As an Instructor at AUCs Professional Educator Diploma program, Alia taught Reading, Writing and Critical Thinking Skills for Adolescent Learners to Egyptian middle school teachers. Students in the program were practicing educators seeking additional skills and knowledge in pedagogy and curriculum. She also served as Program Coordinator for a USAID Development program with universities and government representatives from Afghanistan. Most recently, Alia served as a volunteer during Drexel’s Study Tour for the Egyptian STEM Grant project with STESSA, USAID, and 12 Egyptian Deans. As an adjunct at Drexel, Alia taught two courses (Fundamentals of Special Education and Low Incidence Disabilities). She has her Wilson Reading System certification, qualifying her as a practitioner in their multisensory reading and writing intervention program. She currently works with Dr. Toni Sondergeld on program evaluations. Her research interests include equitable special education policy, literacy, assessment, and program evaluations. Her dissertation focuses on special education in Egypt.

In order to deepen her knowledge of both English language learning and equity in educational policy she decided to pursue a PhD at Drexel University, where she is currently finishing her third year. Since coming to Drexel University, she has worked with Drs. Lori Severino and MJ DeCarlo on the Adolescent Comprehension Evaluation (ACE) app and serving as the site director for their reading intervention summer camp. She served a teaching assistant in special education for Dr. Severino’s Literacy and Content Skill Development in Individuals with Disabilities course and has taught the course Fundamentals of Special Education as an adjunct professor at Drexel University. She completed her Wilson Reading System certification, which qualified her as a practitioner in their multisensory reading and writing intervention program during her second year. Currently, she is serving as a teaching assistant for Dr. DeCarlo's Creating a Positive Classroom Environment as well as working on Program Evaluation projects with Dr. Toni Sondergeld.

Her research interests include equitable special education policy, literacy & reading comprehension, and program evaluations. The focus of her dissertation will be on special education in Egypt.