Jason Ranker, PhD, is a professor in the Curriculum and Instruction Department at PSU. He teaches a variety of courses including: Integrated Methods of Language Arts; Literacy in Early Childhood Education; Literacy in Elementary Education; Language, Literacy and Culture; and Media Literacy, among others. He conducts classroom-based research aimed at understanding how to improve teaching and learning for marginalized and struggling students. This interest has led him to investigate a variety of ways of engaging students in literacy curricula, including the integration of digital and multiple media with the literacy curriculum, and developing ways for students to draw upon their cultural knowledge in school-based literacy. Reports of Dr. Ranker's research can be found in Language Arts, Research in the Teaching of English, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, The Reading Teacher, and Written Communication.