CCLD Research Project

Current Research Project

Looking for a few good researchers

Colorado Council for Learning Disabilities created a unique research project. It began in the mid -1980’s and continues today partly because of the legacy of three wonderful and dedicated educators.

Gertrude Myers
Gertrude was a special education professor at Denver University and then at Northeastern Illinois University in the 70’s and 80’s. Gertrude significantly impacted the teacher preparation program and touched many special education teachers in Colorado through her classes and her dedicated work as a CCLD board member.

Gertrude approached the Council for Learning Disabilities board and the Colorado Department of Education Special Education Services Unit with a plan to raise money to award yearly grants to teachers who were conducting research in their classrooms. She envisioned creating resources from foundation and private contributions to give out several awards every year to deserving applicants. Over a period of time from the late 80’s until her death in the early 90’s, her dream became reality as the CCLD board developed an active research committee to award yearly grants. An account was opened to fund the projects, and a teacher guidebook was developed.

In the Colorado Council for Learning Disabilities Research Project, Gertrude created a legacy. When she knew she was dying, she called several CCLD board members to her bedside and made them promise that they would see that the research project continued. After her death, Art Myers, Gertrude’s husband, set up a memorial fund for the CCLD Research Project.

Ellie Smucker
Ellie was a special education teacher in Cherry Creek School District in the 1970’s and early 80’s. She was not only one of the early LD specialists, but also one of the founding members of the Colorado Council for Learning Disabilities. She served on the board for several years and was instrumental in bringing the National CLD Conference to Denver in the fall of 1980. This provided the opportunity for many CCLD members to meet and acquaint themselves with some of the leaders in the field of Learning Disabilities. This provided the strong base of dedicated officers who built the Colorado chapter into one of the premier CLD branches in the country, a tradition that continues today.

Ellie died of breast cancer in the mid-1980’s just as CCLD was beginning to develop its Teacher Research Project. Ellie’s husband made the project one of the beneficiaries of memorials for Ellie, and the funds have continued to support classroom-based research for two decades. This has proved to be a lasting memory to one of CCLD’s important founders and early LD teachers.

Beatrice Fern
Bea Fern, the mother of Lois Adams (long-time CLD member and CCLD board member), was a teacher in every cell of her body. As she often said, she would rather teach than eat! Her favorite students were those who had trouble learning. She had a wealth of stories about her experiences as teacher/principal/janitor in a one-room school outside of Chicago. One of the stories focused on the boy who could not read or write no matter what she tried. She just could not stop thinking about him and often wished she had known about learning disabilities at the time she taught him. However, she must have done something right, because, as an adult, he built her a beautiful cupboard for her dining room!

When she died in 1991, Lois asked that memorial gifts be sent to CCLD for the Teacher Research Project so other teachers would have support to try promising practices in their classrooms just as Mrs. Fern had done. Contributions to her memorial were added to those of Ellie Smucker to finance the project.

And so it is that CCLD, an organization that has always been run by strong, dedicated teachers has a tangible legacy to give to teachers to encourage them to explore and evaluate promising practices for students who are struggling learners. It is gratifying to know that the legacy continues as a fitting homage to three outstanding teachers.