Biography

Sharon Murphy began her teaching career in Newfoundland and Labrador where she taught special education for several years. After completing her Masters degree in early childhood education at the University of Alberta, she took a position with the Newfoundland Department of Education's Learning Centre. Her responsibilities there required her to travel throughout the province undertaking educational assessments requested by school districts, parents, or other stakeholders. She pursued doctoral studies at the Unversity of Arizona with a major in educational psychology (child development) and a minor in literacy education.  Sharon returned to the Department of Education in Newfoundland and was the principal author of a provincial guide for children with difficulties in reading and writing.  In 1988, she accepted an appointment in the Faculty of Education at York University. At York University, she has served as Director of the Graduate Program in Education as well as Associate Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies. She has also served as Undergraduate Program Director, Associate Dean Academic and Interim Dean in the Faculty of Education. For several years, she co-edited Language Arts, a journal of the National Council of Techers of English. She was awarded a University Professorship by the Senate of York University in 2022.

Scholarly Interests

Current interests are assessment, literacy educaton and early childhood education

Faculty & School/Dept

• Faculty of Education - Bachelor of Education

Selected Publications

• Murphy, S. (2020). Sense-making and shared meaning in language and literacy education: Designing research-based literacy programs for children. New York: Routledge
• Murphy, S. (2018). Ethically based literacy assessment within a new literacy framework. In P. Albers (Ed.) Global conversations in literacy research. New York: Routledge
• Murphy, S., & Headley, M. (2018). Digital literacy in the lives of teen mothers and their children Journal of Early Childhood Literacy. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1468798418783326.
• Murphy, S. (2015). Beyond governmentality: The responsible exercise of freedom in pursuit of literacy assessment. In M. Hamilton, R. Heydon, K. Hibbert, & R. Stooke (Eds.) Negotiating spaces for literacy learning: Multimodality and governmentality (pp. 25-41). LondonEngland: Bloomsbury
• Murphy, S. (2013). Towards knowing well and doing well: Assessment and early childhood education. In J. Larson & J. Marsh (Eds.) The Sage handbook of early childhood literacy (Vol. 2nd ed., pp. 560-574). London, England: Sage
• Murphy, S. (2013) What works--Research into practice: Assessing text difficulty for students. Toronto: Ontario Ministry of Education
• Murphy, S. (2013) Towards Sustaining and Encouraging Reading in Canadian Society. Toronto: National Reading Campaign
• Murphy, S. (2012). Reclaiming pleasure in the teaching of reading Language Arts, 89 ((5)), 318-328.
• Murphy, S. (2010). The pull of PISA: Uncertainty, influence, and ignorance Interamerican Journal of Education for Democracy, 3(1), 28-44.
• Murphy, S. (2009). Knowing and doing well in the creation and interpretation of reading assessments: Towards epistemic responsibility. . In P. Anders (Ed.) Defying convention, inventing the future in literacy research and practice: A tribute to Ken and Yetta Goodman (pp. 331-339). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum
• Murphy, S. (2009). Matters of goodness: Knowing well and doing well in the assessment of critical thinking. . In J. Sobocan & L. Groarke (Eds.) Critical thinking education and assessment: Can higher order thinking be tested? (pp. 331-339). London, ON: Althouse Press
• Murphy, S. (2006). Assessment allegories: A reflective essay Language and Literacy, 8(1).

Selected Presentations

• Sharon Murphy & Marva Headley (2016, June). The literacy values and feelings of teenmothers and their children. Presented at: Canadian Society for Studies in Education
• Sharon Murphy (2015, July). From Governmentality to Agency in Multi-modal Literacy Assessment. Presented at: Paper presented at the annual meeting of the United Kingdom Literacy Association, Nottingham, England
• Murphy, S. (2014, May 28). Playing with Assessment Discourse. Presented at: Canadian Society for Studies in Education, St. Catherines, Ontario
• Murphy, S. (2012). Ethically based literacy assessment within a new literacy framework. Presented at: Global Conversations in Literacy Research.
• Murphy, S. (2012). Gambling on goodness: Can educational assessment ever be good enough? . Presented at: Paper presented at the Canadian Society for Studies in Education Annual Conference, Waterloo, ON
• Murphy, S. (2010). Ethically based literacy assessment within a New Literacy framework. Presented at: Paper presented at the Canadian Society for Studies in Education Annual Conference, Montreal, PQ

Professional Affiliations

• National Council of Teachers of English

York University Affiliations/Cross Appointments

• Children's Studies, Department of Humanities, York University: Adjunct Faculty

Service/Community Activities

• Ontario Education Research Panel: Panel member (2011-2013)