Name: Paul J. Riccomini

Title: Associate Professor of Education (Special Education)

Department: Educational Psychology, Counseling, and Special Education

Phone: 814-867-4386

Email: pjr146@psu.edu

Office address: 214 CEDAR Building

Directory entry: https://ed.psu.edu/directory/dr-paul-j-riccomini

Riccomini began his career as a dual-certified general education mathematics teacher of students with learning disabilities, emotional and behavioral disabilities, and gifted and talented students in grades 7–12 in inclusive classrooms. His classroom teaching experiences required the development and maintenance of strong collaborative relationships with both general and special educators. He continues to strive to strengthen relationships between general and special education today.

Riccomini finds preparing teachers to effectively assume the role of a special educator one of the most rewarding aspects of his work. He teaches both undergraduate and graduate level courses for the Special Education program in the College of Education. Additionally, he mentors doctoral students and recognizes the importance of preparing the next generation of researchers that will continue to advance the field through their own research. Riccomini has authored both research and practitioner articles related to effective strategies for teaching mathematics to students who struggle and has coauthored three math intervention programs and two books: “Response to Intervention in Math” and “Developing Number Sense through the Common Core.” 

Riccomini is dedicated to improving the academic outcomes for students with learning disabilities in mathematics through the application of evidenced-based instructional practices. He continues to focus on developing strong university-school research partnerships across the country. He views these partnerships as critical to the knowledge generation and the improvement of instructional programs for students with disabilities and their families.  As a former mathematics teacher and a parent of a child with a learning disability, Riccomini knows firsthand the complex challenges and difficulties teachers experience and the importance of multiple perspectives and long-term engagement to sustainable and systemic change.

Follow Riccomini on Twitter @pjr146.