Dr. Sherry Mee Bell began her career in education in 1979 as a special education resource teacher serving students with mild to moderate disabilities in a K-8 school in Knox County, TN. Dr. Bell earned a Bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of Tennessee in 1979 with concentrations in Special Education, Elementary Education, and Library Science. During her five years as a resource teacher, she gained experience and expertise in serving students who have been less than successful in general education placements, and with students of varying ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. While teaching, Dr. Bell earned a Master’s degree from the University of Tennessee in Educational Psychology, focusing primarily on learning theory and classroom management. Following a brief stint as a stay-at-home mom, Dr. Bell returned to UT to earn a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Tennessee in 1990 with a concentration in School Psychology and emphasis on instruction and consultation. Since 1990, Dr. Bell has worked as a school psychologist in a variety of settings, providing direct assessment and consultation services. Beginning in 1995, she served as an adjunct instructor for the Special Education program at UT. In 2000, she was appointed as Assistant Professor in Special Education, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2006, and served for several years as Instructional Team Leader for the K-12 Modified/Comprehensive Special Education program. Research interests include reading disabilities, reading instruction and assessment, teacher education and attribution style theory. Dr. Bell is co-author of The Handbook of Reading Assessment. Dr. Bell was appointed interim department head of Theory and Practice in Education at UT in 2011.
Articles
Measures of Emotional Intelligence and Social Acceptability in Children: A Concurrent Validity Study (with Sunny Windingstad, R. Steve McCallum, and Patrick Dunn), Canadian Journal of School Psychology (2011)
The concurrent validity of two measures of Emotional Intelligence (EI), one considered a trait measure,...
Foreign Language Learning Aptitudes, Attitudes, Attributions, and Achievement of Postsecondary Students Identified as Gifted (with Sherry K. Bain, Steve McCallum, Jeff L. Cochran, and Stephanie Choate Sawyer), Journal of Advanced Academics (2010)
We examined foreign language learning aptitudes, attitudes, attributions, and achievement of 94 university students enrolled...
Reading achievement trajectories for students with learning disabilities during the elementary school years (with Sharon Judge), Reading & Writing Quarterly (2010)
Using hierarchical linear modeling and longitudinal data from the first 6 waves of the Early...
Three A's: How Do Attributions, Attitudes, and Aptitude Contribute to Foreign Language Learning? (with Jeff L. Cochran and R. Steve McCallum), Foreign Language Annals (2010)
The researchers investigated attributions for success, attitudes, and aptitudes for native language learning and foreign...
Psychometric Properties of the Foreign Language Attitudes and Perceptions Survey for College Students (with R. Steve McCallum, Emily R. Kirk, Katherine Sager Brown, Emily J. Fuller, and Katrinda W. Scott), Assessment for Effective Intervention (2009)
The psychometric integrity of the Foreign Language Attitudes and Perceptions Survey for college students was...