Rate My Professor Kathleen Rowlands

Kathleen Rowlands serves as a Professor in the Department of Secondary Education at California State University, Northridge, part of the Michael D. Eisner College of Education. Holding a Ph.D. in composition and rhetoric from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where her dissertation was titled "Stepping out and stepping in—composition specialists in the literature classroom: a study of behaviors and beliefs," she transitioned to academia after over 20 years as a classroom teacher. Since joining CSUN in 2004, she has taught credential and master’s-level courses in secondary English education and literacy across content areas, and writing courses in the Educational Leadership doctoral program.

In 2008, Rowlands founded the Cal State Northridge Writing Project, a site of the National Writing Project—with which she has been involved since 1980—and directed it through 2018, delivering professional development to K-12 educators on writing instruction across disciplines. She has obtained significant funding for these efforts, including UC Regents grants such as $36,289 in 2017 for the California Subject Matter Project, $34,535 for ongoing support, a 2015 NCLB 12 grant, and a $20,000 National Writing Project seed grant for "College Ready Writing Program" in high-need schools. From 2006 onward, she has contributed to the CSU Expository Reading and Writing Course Advisory Committee, coaching 7th-12th grade English teachers.

Rowlands has authored over two dozen articles on English teaching and literacy, contributed chapters like "Teaching Writing Right" to "What Really Works in Elementary Education" (2017) and a similar volume for secondary education, and published pieces such as "Slay the Monster! Replacing Form-First Pedagogy with Effective Writing Instruction" and "Transforming Young Writers' Attitudes toward Writing and Becoming Writers" (2012). Her presentations span local to national venues, and she served on the 2015 English Language Arts/English Language Development K-12 Curriculum Adoption Committee for the California Department of Education. Through mentorship, dissertation chairing, and international collaborations like the 2018 Aga Khan Academy visit, she has impacted hundreds of educators regionally and globally.