College of Education and Human Development

Family Social Science

Shannon Rader

  • Pronouns: she/her/hers

  • Parent & Family Education Program Director and Lecturer

Shannon Rader

Areas of interest

Parent education curriculum development and teaching strategies
Evaluating parent and family education programs
Parent engagement
Early childhood education system development
Early childhood mental health
Parent-child relationships

Degrees

PhD in Educational Policy and Administration-Evaluation Studies, University of Minnesota
MA in Family Education, U of M
BA in Anthropology, Macalester College
Early Childhood Education teaching license
Parent/Family Education teaching license

Biography

I am energized when I work with students to develop the knowledge and skills to be a quality parent educator. I view my role as a collaborative mentor focusing on developing relationships that inspire students to strengthen current skills and incorporate new initiatives into their current practices. My approach to teaching and learning is relationship-based and strength-based. This stems from my work with parents, both as a parent educator/facilitator and as a program director. I bring my extensive field-based experience in early childhood education and parent education to the classroom and provide real-life examples and dilemmas for students to explore together. I balance compassion, empathy and understanding with program policies, procedures, and requirements.

Publications
  1. Susman-Stillman, A. & Rader, S. (2011). Final report for the Children’s Theatre Company’s Early Bridges Evaluation. St. Paul, MN: Center for Early Education and Development.
  2. Godber, Y., & Rader, S. (2009). Final report for the Joyce Preschool evaluation. St. Paul, MN: Center for Early Education and Development.
  3. Rader, S., & Susman-Stillman, A. (2009). Final report for the Caring for Kids Initiative evaluation. St. Paul, MN: Center for Early Education and Development.
  4. Hornbacher, J., Rader, S., & Jordan, K. (2008). Bloomington / Richfield Early Reading First / Get Ready Centers of Excellence: Final report. Minneapolis: Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement.
  5. Mueller, M. R. (with Armson, R., & Rader, S.). (2003). Parent involvement in kindergarten and third grade education: What former participants in Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) and other parents report. Minneapolis: Minnesota Center for Survey Research.
Presentations
  1. Rader, S, Benning S., & Harrison, M. (Nov 2016). Embedding Infant Mental Health Core Principles in Pre- Service Programs. National Council on Family Relations Conference, Minneapolis.
  2. Rader, S. (April 2016). Parent Education and Professional Learning Communities: Where Do We Go From Here? Presentation for the Minnesota Association for Family and Early Education Leadership Conference, St. Cloud, MN.
  3. Rader, S. (April 2015). Parent Education and Professional Learning Communities (PLCs): Possibilities and Challenges. Presentation for the Minnesota Association for Family and Early Education Leadership Conference, St. Cloud, MN. 
  4. Susman-Stillman, A., & Rader, S. (July 2010). Ready for Life: Theater Programming for Children Two through Five. Paper presented at the International Theatre for Children and Young Peoples Researchers and Critics Forum, Buenos Aires, Argentina. 
  5. Godber, Y. & Rader, S. (November 2009). Guiding the fleet: Applying an overarching evaluation framework to unify a set of loosely collected studies. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Evaluation Association, Orlando, FL.
  6. Rader, S. (April 2009). Reaching underserved populations: Lessons learned from Minnesota Early Learning Foundation grantees. Panel presentation for the Minnesota Association for Family and Early Education Leadership Conference, St. Cloud, MN.
  7. Cooke, B., Rader, S., Stoner, S., & Yokom, B. (May 2005). Evaluating parent education programs. Presentation for the Parent Education Institute IV, St. Paul, MN.
  8. Mueller, M., Rader, S., Cooke, B., Christensen-Adams, M, & Langenfeld, M. (May 2003). Parent involvement in kindergarten and third grade education: What former participants in Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) and other parents report. Early Childhood Administrators Conference, St. Cloud, MN.