Dr. Sharon Ninness is an educational consultant and an adjunct college instructor. Her educational experience includes work as an instructor of English, special education, and secondary education courses at undergraduate and graduate levels as well as a classroom teacher of public school students at elementary and secondary levels (grades K-12). She also has worked in private and state school settings. In addition, Dr. Ninness’ educational experience includes work as an educational diagnostician, the coordinator of an English literacy program, a gifted/talented specialist, and the chairperson of language arts and gifted/talented programs at elementary and secondary levels. She has worked in public school systems located in North and East Texas, as well as in Baltimore, Maryland, where she has been an advocate for equity and social justice.
From Stephen F. Austin State University, Dr. Ninness holds the following degrees: a B.A. in English and Spanish, a M.Ed. in Educational Leadership, and an Ed.D. in Educational Administration and Supervision. From Texas Woman’s University, she holds a M.Ed. in Special Education. She is a member of Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, Who’s Who in American Education, Phi Delta Kappa International, and the American Association of University Women.
Dr. Ninness has authored many articles in refereed journals and several chapters in books. She also has presented numerous research studies at regional, state, national, and international conferences, addressing such topics as cultural proficiency, bilingual assessment, high-stakes testing, democratic leadership, inclusive practices, differentiated instruction, disproportionality in gifted/talented programs, and human computer interaction.
Previously, as a representative of ESC VII, Dr. Ninness created differentiated curriculum for TEK-STAR, software with curriculum that is aligned to English Language Arts TEKS, multiple intelligences, critical thinking skills, mind style/learning styles, strategies/activities for diverse learners, and real-world connections. This software was distributed to school districts throughout the state of Texas. Dr. Ninness also designed creative writing activities for Texas’s Rising Star Writing Project, which was initially chaired by First Lady Laura Bush, and she presented these at a state conference as well as at public school in-services. In addition, Dr. Ninness developed an extensive interdisciplinary curriculum, which she presented at annual conferences of the Texas Association for Gifted and Talented, in-services at regional education service centers in Texas, and in-services in local school districts.
More recently, Dr. Ninness has provided in-services to teachers on the process of response to intervention (RtI), differentiation of content, process, product, and learning environment, and culturally relevant teaching. She also has conducted studies involving women administrators, the findings of which she has presented at regional, national, and international conferences. Dr. Ninness presented one of these studies, which investigated the glass ceiling in relation to women administrators’ paths to the superintendency, at Oxford during an International Women and Social Justice Conference.