Dr. McCloskey earned a BS in psychology, magna cum laude, and received the Departmental Award for Excellence in Psychology, from St. Vincent College in 1976. He obtained an MS in school psychology in 1979, and a PhD in school psychology in 1985 from The Pennsylvania State University.
Dr. McCloskey has accumulated a broad range of work experiences in the field of psychology over the last 25 years. He has been invloved ion practical, direct service work in multiple settings, pre-service teaching at the graduate and undergraduate levels, teaching for continuing education and in-service purposees including many presentations for state, regional, and national professional associations, reasearch and test development in both uiversity and corporate settings, and administration and supervision on clincal, university, and business settings.
Prior to his completing his training in school psychology, he worked as a paraprofessional in minimum security prison and community mental health settings. His experience in the field as a school psychologist included interning in the Lancaster City schools; working full-time for the Pinellas County, Florida public schools; and working part-time for State College Area schools in State College, Pennsylvania and the Parkland School District in Allentown, Pennsylvania. From 2003 to 2007, Dr. McCloskey was the Director of the SPARK (School Psychologists Adopting Refined Knowledge) Project for the New York City Department of Education. This program involves coordinating and providing in-service training activities for more than 1,100 school psychologists and 30 supervisors of school psychologists employed by the New York City Department of Education. In 2009, Dr. McClsokey became a consultant to the School District of Philadelphia to assisst with updating the skills of more than 100 school psychologists employes by the School District of Philadelphia.
Dr. McCloskey has been involved in teaching activities since his graduate training days. While a graduate student at Penn State, he taught courses on Statistics for the Biological Sciences for the Statistics Department, assisted Dr. John Salvia in the teaching of a psychoeducational assessment course for psychologists and teachers, and taught a Psychology of Learning course for St. Vincent's College. Dr. McCloskey has served as an adjunct faculty member for the School Psychology graduate program at Ryder University in Lawrenceville, and for the PCOM Clinical and School Psychology programs, teaching courses in cognitive assessment, intervention, and research. As a Clinical Measurement Consultant for the Psychological Corporation from 1993-2001, Dr. McCloskey devoted serveral years to in-service training of school, clinical and neuropsycholoists, educational evaluators, special educators, speech therapists and other assessment specialists in the use and interpretation of assessment instruments.
Dr. McCloskey has been a full-time memeber of the PCOM Psychology Department faculty since March 2004. His primary responsibilities include teaching courses in the Psy.D. and Ed.S. school psychology programs, supervising doctoral dissertation research, and serving as Director of Reseearch for the School Psychology program.
In addition to his clinical and teaching work, Dr. McCloskey has accumulated over 20 years of experience in research and test development activities. He joined the staff of American Guidance Service (AGS) in 1984 as a research associate in test development. In 1987, he was promoted to Senior Research Associate, and he served as Associate Director of Development from 1989 to 1993. While at AGS, Dr. McCloskey was involved in the development of many of the well-known psychological and educational assessment instruments used by clinicians, including the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement (KTEA), the Kaufman Adolescent and Adult Intelligence Test (KAIT), the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT), the AGS Early Screening Profiles, Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning-Third Edition (DIAL-III), Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC), Social Skills Rating System (SSRS), Kaufman Short Neuropsychological Assessment Procedure (K-SNAP), Kaufman Functional Academic Skills Test (K-FAST), the Oral and Written Language Scales (OWLS), the Comprehensive Assessment of Speech and Language (CASL), and the Multidimensional Self-Concept Scale(MSCS).
As a freelance development specialist, he contributed to the writing of the narrative content and the program logic for the WISC-III Writer, a report writing software program. During 1992-94, as a consultant to the Pennsylvania Department of Education's Instructional Support Team project, Dr. McCloskey provided research design and data analysis services to analyze the results of statewide Support Program effectiveness studies. In 1993, Dr. McCloskey took a position as a Clinical Measurement Consultant for The Psychological Corporation, providing consultative and training services throughout the northeast region. Throughout this period, Dr. McCloskey frequently was called on to assist with test development activities, and in 2001, he accepted a position as Senior Research Director in the Test Development department of The Psychological Corporation. In that capacity, he assisted with the development of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scales of Intelligence-Third Edition (WPPSI-III) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV), directed the development of the WISC-IV Integrated, and helped to blueprint a revision of the NEPSY: A Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment.
Dr. McCloskey has served as a consultant to state departments of education, universities, professional associations, and school districts, providing various training and clinical consultation services. Dr. McCloskey also provides psychoeducational assessment services and consulting on academic and behavioral intervention plans and the implementation of Repsonse to Interventions methods in public schools and instructional methods in private schools.
Dr. McCloskey works with children and adults experiencing various cognitive, learning, and behavior difficulties including ADHD, executive dysfunction, memory problems, reading disability, written experssion disability, math disability, head trauma, metal retardation, autism, Asperger's and pervasive developmental delay.
Dr. McCloskey's areas of research interest include cognition and cognitive neuropsychology and the relationship of these fields to learning and classroom instruction, and psychological and educational assessment and the link between assessment and intervention. Of particular interest are the role of executive function in learning and production, reading assessment and instruction, memory process and assessment methodology.
Dr. McCloskey has authored and co-authored several book chapters and journal articles on assessment issues and executive functios. He is the lead author of the recntly published book Assessment and Intervention for Executive Function Difficulties (2009) and is the author of Esstentials of Executive Functions Assessment (in press).
Professional Affiliations/Activities
Chair, Continuing Education Committee, Pennsylvania Psychological Association
NASP Liaison, Joint Committee for Test Practices
Advisory Board Member, Association of Educational Therapists
Board of Directors, Pennsylvania Psychological Foundation
Member, American Psychological Association
Member, National Association of School Psychologists
Member, Eastern Psychological Association
Member, Pennsylvania Psychological Association
Member, Association of School Psychologists of Pennsylvania
Professional Awards
Service to Psychology Award from the New Jersey Association of School Psychologists, May 2000
Service to Psychology Award from the Massachusetts Psychological Association, June 2000
Certificate of Appreciation, National Association of School Psychologists? Government and Professional Relations Committee, March 2000
Recent Publications
McCloskey, G., Perkins, L. and VanDivner, R. (In Press). Assessment and intervention for executive function difficulties. In press with Taylor Francis, a subsidiary of Routledge Press.
McCloskey, G., Kane, P., Champ-Morera, C., Gipe, K, & McLaughlin, A. (2007). Assessment of personality disorders in childhood. In Freeman, A. & Reinecke, M.A. (Eds.), Personality Disorders in Adolescence. New York: Wiley.
McCloskey, G., & McCloskey, L.K. (2005). Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement-Second Edition: Automated System for Scoring and Interpreting Standardized Tests (KTEA-II ASSIST). Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.
McCloskey, G., & Mearlender, A. (2004). The WISC-IV Integrated. In Prifitera, A., & Saklofske, D. WISC-IV Clinical use and interpretation: Scientist-practitioner perspectives. New York: Academic Press.
Recent Professional Presentations
December 2007, Association of Educational Therapists Continuing Education Institute, Invited 2 Day Workshop, Neuropsychologically-oriented Process Assessment and Executive Function Assessment and Interventions.
November 2007, Harvard Learning and the Brain Conference, Cambridge, MA. Invited Workshop, The Role of Visual Processing in Reading and Learning.
November 2007, Harvard Learning and the Brain Conference, Invited Workshop, Cambridge, MA. The Role of Executive Functions in Classroom Learning and Behavior: Strategies for Assessment and Intervention.
October 2007, New Jersey Association of Learning Consultants Annual Conference, Morristown, NJ. Invited Workshop, Response to Intervention, Progress Monitoring and Identification of Learning Disabilities in the Context of a Three Tier Delivery System.
October 2007, Seton Hall University Annual School Psychology Conference, East Orange, NJ. Invited Workshop, The Role of Executive Functions in Classroom Learning and Behavior: Strategies for Intervention.
October 2007, Association of School Psychologists of Pennsylvania, State College, PA. Invited Workshop, Behavior Problems and Curricular Mismatch: Strategies for Intervention.
August 2007, The Brain, Learning and Applications Summer Institute, Nashville, TN, Invited Keynote Address, The Role of Executive Functions in Learning and Production.
August 2007, The Brain, Learning and Applications Summer Institute, Nashville, TN, Invited Workshop, Memory from a Developmental Neuropsychological Perspective: Implications for Instruction in Regular and Special Education Classrooms.
August 2007, The Brain, Learning and Applications Summer Institute, Nashville, TN, Invited Workshop, The Role of Executive Functions in Classroom Learning and Behavior: Strategies for Assessment and Intervention.
July 2007, National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) Summer Institute, Atlantic City, NJ. Invited Workshop. Response to Intervention and Progress Monitoring in the Context of Three Tier Service Delivery Models.
April 2007, Harvard Learning and the Brain Conference, Cambridge, MA. Invited Workshop, Memory from a Developmental Neuropsychological Perspective: Implications for Instruction in Regular and Special Education Classrooms.
April 2007, Harvard Learning and the Brain Conference, Invited Workshop, Cambridge, MA. The Role of Executive Functions in Classroom Learning and Behavior: Strategies for Assessment and Intervention.
March 2007, Pennsylvania Psychological Association, Harrisburg, PA. Invited Workshop, Assessing for Learning Disabilities in Adults.
March 2007, New York Branch ? International Dyslexia Association Annual Conference, New York, NY. Invited Workshop, The role of executive functions in reading.
March 2007, National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), Miniskills Workshop on Identification of Learning Disabilities within a Three Tier Service Delivery Model, New York, NY.
March 2007, National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), Miniskills Workshop on Classroom Interventions for Executive Function Difficulties, with Lisa Perkins and Bob VanDivner, New York, NY.
March 2007, National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), Miniskills Workshop on Interventions for Reading Problems, Anaheim, CA.
March 2007, Yale Child Study Center Conference on Response to Intervention, "Intelligent Testing," and Specific Learning Disabilities Assessment, Invited Address, Evaluation of Processing Integrities and Deficiencies.
February 2007, New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education, School Law Conference, New Brunswick, NJ. Invited Address, Identification of Learning Disabilities, Response to Intervention and Progress Monitoring.
December 2006, New Jersey Association of School Psychologists, Jamestown, NJ. Invited Workshop, Strategies for Improving Psychoeducational Report Writing.
November 2006, Ohio School Psychology Association, Columbus, Ohio. Invited Workshop, The Role of Executive Functions in Classroom Learning and Behavior: Strategies for Assessment and Intervention.
October 2006, Association of Educational Therapists Annual Conference, Invited Panel Member and Discussant: The Role of Executive Functions in Learning and Producing, Boston, MA.
October 2006, Association of Educational Therapists Annual Conference, Invited Workshop, The Role of Executive Functions in Learning and Behavior, Boston, MA.
October 2006, Association of School Psychologists of Pennsylvania, State College, PA. Invited Workshop, The Role of Executive Functions in Classroom Learning and Behavior: Strategies for Intervention.
September 2006, Maryland Psychological Association, Columbia, MD. Invited Workshop, Advanced Interpretation of the WAIS-III.
August 2006. Canadian Psychological Association Third Annual Continuing Education Summer Institute, Ottawa, Ontario. Invited Workshop, Executive Functions: Definition, Assessment and Intervention.
July 2006, Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation 10th Annual Conference on Education: Childhood Learning and the Brain, Making the Connection, Invited Address, The Role of Executive Functions in Childhood Learning and Behavior, Santa Fe, NM.
July 2006, National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), Summer Institute Invited Workshop. Identification of Learning Disabilities in the Context of IDEA Reauthorization and Three Tier Service Delivery Models, Atlantic City, NJ.
April 2006, Toronto Publilc Schools, Toronto, Ontario. Invited Workshop for School Psychologists and Speech Therapists, The Role of Executive Functions in Language Production.
March 2006, National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), Invited Workshop, Anaheim, CA. Identification of Learning Disabilities in the Context of IDEA Reauthorization and Three Tier Service Delivery Models.
March 2006, National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), Miniskills Workshop on The Role of Visual Processing in Reading and Learning, Anaheim, CA.
March 2006, National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), Miniskills Workshop on Interventions for Reading Problems, Anaheim, CA.
February 2006, Illinois School Psychology Association, Chicago, IL. Invited Workshop, The Role of Visual Processing in Learning and Reading.
December 2005, New Jersey Association of School Psychologists, Invited Workshop, Jamestown, NJ. The Role of Visual Processing in Learning and Reading.
November 2005, New York Association of School Psychologists, Invited Workshop, White Plains, NY. The Role of Executive Functions in Classroom Learning and Behavior: Strategies for Assessment and Intervention.
November 2005, Saskatchewan Educational Psychological Association, Two-day Invited Workshop, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The Role of Executive Functions in Classroom Learning and Behavior: Strategies for Assessment and Intervention.
October 2005, Harvard Learning and the Brain Conference, Invited Workshop, Cambridge, MA. Memory from a Developmental Neuropsychological Perspective: Implications for Instruction in Regular and Special Education Classrooms.
October 2005, Harvard Learning and the Brain Conference, Invited Workshop, Cambridge, MA. The Role of Executive Functions in Classroom Learning and Behavior: Strategies for Assessment and Intervention.
July 2005, National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), Summer Institute Invited Workshop. The Role of Executive Functions in Classroom Learning and Behavior: Strategies for Assessment and Intervention.
March 2005, National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), Invited Workshop, Atlanta, GA, Neuropsychologically-oriented Process Approach to Psychoeducational Assessment and Intervention
March 2005, National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), Miniskills Workshop on The Role of Visual Processing in Reading and Learning, Atlanta, GA.
March 2005, National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), Miniskills Workshop on Using a Cognitive Neuropsychology Model to Guide Assessment and Intervention in the Schools, Atlanta, GA.
March 2005, Pennsylvania Psychological Association, Invited Workshop. Lancaster, PA. WISC-IV Integrated Advanced Interpretation.
March 2005, Pennsylvania Psychological Association, Invited Workshop. Lancaster, PA. Improving Psychoeducational Report Writing.
February 2005, Psychological Association of Alberta, Invited Workshop, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Advanced Interpretation of the WISC-IV Integrated.
