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Dr. Sunshine Moss holds a doctoral degree in special education from the University of Florida with a minor in research and evaluation methodology. Her work focuses on aligning education research, policy, and practice to improve outcomes for children. She has expertise in the areas of literacy, dyslexia, and special education instruction, policy, & teacher preparation.
In private practice, Dr. Moss supports children, families, and small schools and organizations through consultation, tutoring, and training in literacy, writing, math, special education, and policy. She has provided expert review and testimony in special education due process hearings. She is currently developing continuing education curriculum on learning disabilities for a national organization of construction trades educators.
Dr. Moss plays an active role in building partnerships to improve outcomes for children in the local community. She is on the board of directors for Resilience Charter School and PEAK Literacy and is an organizer for the annual Disability Resource Expo. Dr. Moss served as methodologist on the Alachua County Children’s Trust’s summer needs assessment. She has been invited to present on literacy development and education policy by various community organizations seeking to improve education, including the Gainesville Education Task Force, the Alachua County Public Library, and The Council for Exceptional Children’s Gatorland Chapter.
Dr. Moss recently founded a non-profit, Intersection Education, designed to support the education and well-being of children, families, and teachers through community partnerships that connect research, policy, and practice. Intersection synthesizes and synchronizes three fields of knowledge learned as researcher, practioner, and policy analyst.
Dr. Moss’ doctoral research focused on teacher knowledge of dyslexia and special education policy and the barriers parents and teachers experience to meeting the needs of children with dyslexia and other reading difficulties. In 2018, she was awarded a generous grant by the Learning Disabilities Foundation of America to support her research.
Through the University of Florida, Dr. Moss served as coordinator of the UF Literacy Institute‘s pre-service teacher training and Summer Adventures in Literacy programs. In addition, she assisted in the content development of the UF’s Graduate Certificate in Dyslexia for which she won UF’s 2018 Online Education Excellence award for Instructional Strategy and UFLI Foundations, an evidence-based phonics curriculum that is being implemented in classrooms across the globe. Dr. Moss also served as assessment coordinator and data analyst for Winning Reading Boost a multisensory reading program and school improvement initiative funded through the Florida legislature to improve literacy in the state’s most struggling schools. Dr. Moss is a trainer for the University of Florida Literacy Institute and has provided literacy-related professional development to teachers in Florida and South Carolina through UF’s Lastinger Center for Learning.
Dr. Moss is a Clinical Educator and a longtime supervisor and mentor to elementary and special education pre-service teachers in the UF’s Unified Elementary ProTeach Dual Certification program. She is the recipient of UF’s Graduate Mentoring Award in honor of her longstanding commitment to mentoring children and preservice teachers.
As a classroom teacher, Dr. Moss was a Lastinger Institute Teacher-Leader and member of the school discipline committee. She is the recipient of the Alachua County Literacy Award and two grants for cross-curricular unit studies she developed in collaboration with the art teacher to integrate social studies, writing, and art.
In a career that spans two decades, Dr. Moss has learned that misconceptions about research, policy, and/or practice have catastrophic effects on children. She provides clear guidance on current research in reading and special education to support the implementation of evidence-based policies and practices across settings. Contact sun@sunshinemoss.com
Sunshine Moss, Ph.D. 