“One way to conceptualize literacy is as a jigsaw puzzle. The various aspects of literacy fit together as a whole, enabling you to advance your goal of teaching all of your students to read.”- Elaine McEwan-Adkins

Elaine McEwan-Adkins is a partner and educational consultant with The McEwan-Adkins Group, offering professional development in literacy and school leadership. A former teacher, librarian, principal, and assistant superintendent for instruction in a suburban Chicago school district, she is the author of more than 35 books for parents and educators. Her most recent titles include 40 Reading Intervention Strategies, Grades K-6 and 20 Literacy Strategies to Meet the Common Core: Increasing Rigor in Middle and High School Classrooms (with Allyson Burnett) (Solution Tree), Teach Them All to Read: Catching Kids Before They Fall Through the Cracks (2nd Ed., Corwin Press); and Ten Traits of Highly Effective Schools (Corwin Press).

Elaine was honored by the Illinois Principals Association as an outstanding instructional leader, by the Illinois State Board of Education with an Award of Excellence in the Those Who Excel Program, and by the National Association of Elementary School Principals as the National Distinguished Principal from Illinois for 1991. She received her undergraduate degree in education from Wheaton College and advanced degrees in library science (MA) and educational administration (EdD) from Northern Illinois University. She lives with her husband and business partner E. Raymond Adkins in Oro Valley, Arizona.