Doctoral Student
Email: jbencak@lamar.edu 

Hometown

• Chicago, IL

Current Employment

• Deaf Education Teacher, Humble ISD, Humble TX

Education

• M.S. in Education of the Deaf, Texas Woman's University, 2018
• B.S. in Deaf Education, Illinois State University, 2006

Research Interests

• Early Literacy and Langauge Development of Deaf Children
• Literacy Strategies and Interactions between Deaf/Hearing Parents and Deaf Children
• Curriculum and Instruction of Early Literacy for Deaf Children
• ASL-English Bilingualism 
• ASL Assessments
• Self-Advocacy Skills of Deaf Children and Adolescents
• Deaf Education Administration

Recent Peer-Reviewed Publications

• Alford, A. D., Bencak, J. M., Tucker, E. A., Williams, D. C., Courson, F. F., Buchanan, B. J., Greene, A. N., & Clark, M. D. (in press). Is the window of learning only cracked open? Parents’ perspectives on virtual learning. American Annals of the Deaf.

Recent Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications

• N/A

Recent Presentations

• Edwards, S., Courson, F., Alford, A., & Bencak, J. (2022, February). Online Mentoring with Preservice Teachers of K-12 DHH Students using Bilingual Instructional Strategies in Literacy. Presented at Association of College Educators-Deaf and Hard of Hearing Conference, Omaha, Nebraska.
• Wright, S.J., Lawyer, G., Tucker, E., Bencak, J., Hill, J., & Goodwin, S. (2020, February). Case Study: Social Movement Impacts on Deaf Administrative Hires in the Past 7 Years.
  Presented at the Ethnographic and Qualitative Research Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Dissertation Focus

• TBA