Kathy Jo Piechura-Couture
Professor of Education, Nina B. Hollis Institute of Educational Reform
Dr. Piechura-Couture has aided in implementing a program within local elementary schools to study how the single gender classroom dynamic works.
- PhD, curriculum and instruction, University of South Florida
- MA, emotional disturbance, University of South Florida
- BS, elementary education; special education: emotionally impaired, Eastern Michigan University

Biography
Kathy Piechura-Couture, PhD, is a professor of education at Stetson University and serves on the research faculty of the Nina B. Hollis Institute of Educational Reform. Through her work with the Hollis Institute, she has been instrumental in the implementation and training of the single-gender initiative at Woodward Avenue Elementary, and at several others schools throughout the United States. She has been featured on MSNBC and in several documentaries for her expertise in the area of single-gender education. She currently serves on the advisory board of the National Association of Single Sex Public Education (NASSPE). She has worked hand-in-hand with teachers for over a decade researching the effect of the single-gender classroom choice.
More About Kathy Jo Piechura-Couture
Areas of Expertise
- Special education
- Single-gender classes
- Teacher assessment
Course Sampling
- Educational psychology
- Human exceptionalities
- Differentiating instruction
- Principal and methods of instruction
- Classroom management
- Teacher effectiveness
- Special education
- Single-gender pedagogy
- Colwell, C., MacIssac, D., Tichenor, M., Heins, E., & Piechura, K. (accepted for publication in The Professional Educator). "District and university perspectives on sustaining professional development schools? Do the NCATE standards matter?"
- Piechura-Couture, K., Heins,E., Tichenor, M. (2013). "The Boy Factor: Can Single-Gender Classes Reduce the Over-Representation of Boys in Special Education?" College Student Journal, Volume 47, Number 2 / Summer 2013 (selected reprint).
- Tichenor, M., Heins, E., and Piechura, K. (2010). "Five steps in creating a summer literacy camp for at-risk students." The Florida Reading Journal, 46(2), 39-43.
- Rhodes, W.C., Piechura-Couture, K., Doone, E. (2009). Unifying Theory of Emotional Disturbance and the Life Impact Curriculum in Personal Constructivism: Theory and Applications. Edited by Larry M. Leitner and Jill C. Thomas. Pace University Press.
- Piechura-Couture, K. and Heins, E. (2009). "The Boy Factor." International Association of Special Education.
- Tichenor, M., Piechura, K. Heins, E., Dershimer, E., and MacIsaac, D. (2008). "Preparing teacher candidates to use gender-specific teaching strategies." Focus on Teacher Education, 8(4), 3-7
- Tichenor, M., Taylor, G., Piechura, K., and Heins, E. (2006). "The Cats and the Hatters: A Summer Literacy Program for Students At-Risk." The Florida Reading Quarterly, 42(4), 37-39.
- Piechura, K.P., Heins, E.D., Roberts, D., MacIsaac, D., and Roberts, J. (2006). "The Lunch Bunch: Building Literacy in a Natural Way." Florida Reading Quarterly.