Ed Pultorak | Education | SIU

Teacher Leadership | Curriculum Studies

Ed Pultorak, Ph.D., is currently a Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on Teacher Leadership. The passion, drive, and dedication for helping individuals become the very best teachers has been his paramount goal and focus since joining SIU over 20 years ago and throughout his professional career.

His research interests include teacher reflectivity and teacher education. His contention has been that all teachers must constantly assess what their students think and understand and redesign their teaching accordingly. He believes that teacher reflection plays a significant role in this process and his research offers ways to design activities that foster effective reflection and help teacher candidates be more autonomous in their instructional decision making.

He has served the teacher education profession in numerous national and international leadership roles including educational task forces, commissions, committees, educational boards including the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) board. Dr. Pultorak has served as President of the Association of Teacher Educators as well as President of a local school board. He is an ATE Distinguished Member, an ATE Association Development Specialist, Executive Director of the Illinois Association of Teacher Educators, and was recently honored as the national Distinguished Teacher Educator. He currently serves CAEP/NCATE as a Board of Examiners Team Chair and completes reviews for one of the SPAs.

He has presented at many national and international educational conferences and has had numerous books and articles published on teacher education topics including articles in Kappan, Journal of Teacher Education, and Action in Teacher Education. He has also served in several editorial roles for professional publications.

Dr. Pultorak has received several prestigious awards for his professionalism and has had the honor of interacting with each national teacher of the year for the past several years.