Kathleen Kyzar, Ph.D.

Kathleen Kyzar, Ph.D., is a TCU alumna and former deaf education itinerant teacher in Fort Worth and surrounding communities. Her role involved partnering with families and other service providers (e.g., doctors, clinicians, diagnosticians) to meet learner needs. She earned her Ph.D. in special education at the University of Kansas and worked as a Research Associate at the Beach Center on Disability at the University of Kansas, then as an Assistant Professor at Texas Woman’s University before joining the TCU faculty. Her research centers on developing equitable family-school partnership practices and programming in early childhood/elementary settings, and evaluating the effects of such programming on learner, family, and educator outcomes. Her research has been published in top-tier academic journals within the special education/early childhood field, and she is a co-author on the forthcoming Pearson textbook, Families and Professionals: Trusting Partnerships in General and Special Education. Dr. Kyzar enjoys teaching courses related to early childhood education, family-school partnership practices and programming, and quantitative research methodology. She is an active member of the Council for Exceptional Children’s Division for Research Committee on Research and Families of Individuals with Disabilities, which focuses on including individuals with disabilities and their families in research, and dissemination and promoting ongoing communication between research, family, and practitioner communities. Through her research, teaching, and service, she aims to support schools and families in building and maintaining trusting partnerships that benefit student academic and behavioral learning.

Education

Ph.D., Special Education
University of Kansas
2010

M.A., Deaf Education: Family-Centered Early Education
Gallaudet University
2001

B.S., Deaf Education
Texas Christian University
1999

Academic Areas

• Early childhood education and programming
• Family-school partnerships and collaboration
• Early childhood special education

Research Areas

• Family-professional partnerships
• Family quality of life
• Family support
• Early childhood professional development

Articles

Francis, G., Kilpatrick, A., Haines, S. J., Gershwin, T., Kyzar, K. B., & Hossain, I. (2021). Special education faculty decision-making regarding designing and delivering family-professional partnership content and skills in the U.S. Teaching and Teacher Education, 105, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2021.103419 

Strickland-Cohen, M. K., Kyzar, K., & Fraire, F. (2021). School-family partnerships to support positive behavior: Assessing social validity and intervention fidelity. Preventing School Failure. https://doi.org/10.1080/1045988X.2021.1913084 

Young, A., Silliman-French, L., Nichols, D., & Kyzar, K. (2020). Effects of adapted physical education and homework on gross motor development for young children with Down Syndrome. Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities, 55(2), 228-242. 

Kyzar, K., Brady, S., Summers, J. A., & Turnbull, A. P. (2020). Family quality of life and partnership for families of students with deaf-blindness. Remedial and Special Education, 41(1), 50-62. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0741932518781946 

Kyzar, K. B., Mueller, T. G., Francis, G. L., & Haines, S. J. (2019). Special education teacher preparation for family-professional partnerships: Results from a national survey of teacher educators. Teacher Education and Special Education, 42(4), 320-337. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0888406419839123 

Strickland-Cohen, M. K., & Kyzar, K. B. (2019). Events that help and hinder family-teacher communication within SWPBIS: A qualitative analysis. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 21(3), 148-158. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1098300718813622 

Books

Turnbull, A., Turnbull, R., Francis, G., Burke, M., Kyzar, K., Haines, S., … Singer, G. (2021). Families and Professionals: Trusting partnerships in general and special education. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.  

Chapters

Francis, G., Kyzar, K., & Lavin, C. (in press). Collaborate with families to support student learning and secure needed services. In J. McLeskey, L. Maheady, B. Billingsley, M. T. Brownell, & T. J. Lewis (Eds.), High leverage practices for inclusive classrooms (2nd ed.). Routledge.  

Haines, S. J., Kyzar, K. B., Francis, G., Aldersey, H. M., & Shepherd, K. G. (in press). Theory influencing research on FPPs in special education: Examining norms and nudging towards equity. In B. Talbott & T. Aceves (Eds.), Handbook of research on special education. Routledge Press. 

Zuna, N., & Kyzar, K. (2020). Fostering family-professional partnerships. In F. Brown, J. McDonnell, & M. Snell (Eds.), Instruction of students with severe disabilities (9th ed., pp. 28-59). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.