Professional interests
Paulette Mills coordinates the Pullman-Spokane Masters in Teaching program and works closely with students, faculty, supervisors, and mentor teachers in this program. She previously taught courses in child development; curriculum, guidance and learning; seminar in early childhood education; parent and child relations; early childhood special education; inclusion practices; special education and the law; assessment; introduction to special education ; and current issues and trends in special education.
Research interests
Dr. Mills is working with data from a 20-year curriculum comparison project involving extensive follow-up of children with disabilities carried out at the University of Washington with colleagues from 1984-2004, Dr. Joseph Jenkins, Dr. Kevin Cole, and Dr. Phillip Dale. Mills is beginning work with two colleagues, Dr. Francois Martin (veterinary medicine), and Jerry Newman (4-H Youth faculty in Human Development), evaluating Animal Assisted Activity Curricula and the impact on the social/emotional development of 8- and 9-year-old children.
Recent accomplishments
- Bindler, R.C., Massey, L.K., Shultz, J.A., Mills, P.E., & Short, R.A. (2007). Metabolic syndrome in a multi-ethnic sample of children: Implications for the pediatric nurse. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 22, 1, 43-58.
- Jenkins, J.R., Dale, P.S., Mills, P.E., & Cole, K.N. (2006). How special education preschool graduates finish: Status at 19 years of age. American Educational Research Journal, 43, 4, 737-781.
- Cole, K.N., Mills, P.E., Jenkins, J.R., & Dale, P.S. (2005). Early intervention curricula and subsequent adolescent social development: A longitudinal examination. Journal of Early Intervention, 27.2, 71-82.
- Dale, P.S., Jenkins, J.R., Mills, P.E., & Cole, K.N. (2005). Follow-up of children from academic and cognitive preschool curricula at ages 12 and 16. Exceptional Children, 71, 3, 301-317.
- Dale, P.S., Mills, P.E., Cole, K.N., & Jenkins, J.R. (2004). When paths diverge: “Errors of prediction” from preschool test scores to later cognitive and academic measures. Journal of Special Education, 37, 4, 237-248.
- Mills, P.E., Cole, K.N., Jenkins, J.R., & Dale, P.S. (2002). Early exposure to Direct Instruction and subsequent juvenile delinquency: A prospective examination. Exceptional Children, 69, 1, 85-96 was reviewed in : Scanlon, D., Boudah, D. Elksnin, L.K., Gersten, R., & Klingner, J. Important publications in the field of LD in light of imminent topics, Learning Disability Quarterly, 26, summer 2003, pp. 215 - 224. It was reviewed and cited as one of “Three cutting-edge research studies in the field of LD."
Educational background
- Ph.D. Education/Special Education, University of Washington, 1994.
- M.A. Child Psychology, University of Minnesota, 1968.
- B.A. Psychology, University of Montana, 1965.
