Julie Hiefield

MSc • MAT • A/OGA
OG Tutor

Julie Hiefield, MS, MAT, A/OGA

Julie earned an MS in Education Policy and Administration from the University of Oregon in 1987 and an MA in Teaching from Lewis & Clark College in 1989. She began her career teaching Social Studies at Jefferson High School in Portland. Teaching at Jefferson, and later in Orange County, California (English Composition and Literature) and the Washington D.C. area (working with suspended middle and high school students) allowed her to realize she was ill equipped to support the literacy skills of struggling students. Upon returning to Oregon in 2001 she was introduced to the Orton-Gillingham approach and began the training that would enable her to successfully support these students. After completing her training at the Blosser Center for Dyslexia Resources, she joined the nonprofit Language Skills Therapy in 2007. Julie has also taught for Portland Public Schools as an Instructional and Reading Specialist at a NE K-5 school and tutored at Edison High School in Portland. Edison supports students with learning differences such as dyslexia, ADHD and other complex learning challenges.

Since 2012 Julie has taught a foundational literacy class for adults with low reading skills at several Portland Community College campuses through the Language and Literacy Fund, an Oregon nonprofit organization. In 2024 Julie and her colleagues at the Language and Literacy Fund partnered with the Portland Literacy Council and the Blosser Center offering a series of five workshops “Foundational Skills in Reading Instruction” to train tutors committed to working with adults with low literacy skills in the Portland metro area.

Current memberships:

• Orton-Gillingham Academy, Associate Level

• International Dyslexia Association, Oregon Branch

Recent Presentations:

• “The Orton-Gillingham Approach to Teaching Reading, Spelling and Writing”, Portland Literacy Council Conference, Portland, OR (2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026)

• “Foundational Literacy Building Blocks for Teaching Adults Who Struggle to Read”, Oregon Adult Basic Education Conference, Online (2025)

• “What Does it Take to be a Successful Literacy Instructor or Tutor for Adults who Struggle to Read?”, Oregon Adult Basic Education Conference, Salem, OR (2024)

• “It Never too Late to Learn to Read: Help for Adults with Dyslexia”, Oregon GED Program Summit, Portland, OR (2018) and Salem, OR (2019)

• “Why is it So Easy for Everyone Else?” International Dyslexia Association Conference, Portland, OR (2019)

Previous credentials:

• Oregon Teaching Endorsement/License, Reading Specialist K-12 and Social Studies 5-12

• California Teaching License, Social Studies 5-12