Mitchell Yell, Ph.D.
Board President & Faculty
Mitchell L. Yell, Ph.D., is the Fred and Francis Lester Palmetto Chair in Teacher Education and a Professor in Special Education at the University of South Carolina. He earned his Ph.D. in special education from the University of Minnesota. His professional interests include special education law, IEP development, progress monitoring, and parent involvement in special education. Dr. Yell has published 124 journal articles, 6 textbooks, 32 book chapters, and has conducted numerous workshops on various aspects of special education law, classroom management, and progress monitoring. His textbook, Special Education and the Law, is in its 5th edition. He also had been awarded almost $16 million in grants. Dr. Yell also serves as a State-level due process review officer in South Carolina. Prior to working in higher education, Dr. Yell was a special education teacher in Minnesota for 14 years.
- MSLBD Outstanding Leadership
- Inaugural Regent's medal for Excellence in Special Education Research
- The University of South Carolina College of Education Research Award
- MSLBD Outstanding Educator of the Year
Dr. Mitchell Yell is a Professor in Special Education in the College of Education at the University of South Carolina (USC) in Columbia, South Carolina. Prior to coming to the University of South Carolina, Dr. Yell was a special education teacher in Minnesota for 16 years. During this time he taught in elementary, middle, and secondary classrooms for students with mild mental retardation, learning disabilities, emotional and behavioral disorders, and autism. He received his Ph.D from the University of Minnesota in 1992. His professional interests include special education law, evidence based interventions for children and youth with disabilities, school wide positive behavior support, and progress monitoring.
For the past 16 years Dr. Yell has conducted extensive research on legal issues in special education. His primary goal has been to extrapolate principles from legislation and litigation, communicate them to parents, teachers and administrators in a clear, nonlegal manner, and to assist school districts in the formation of legally sound, research-based, policies. He has published over 60 journal articles, 2 textbooks (The Law and Special Education, 3rd edition, and No Child Left Behind published by Merrill/Prentice Hall) 12 book chapters, and has conducted numerous workshops on many aspects of special education law.
Since joining USC, Dr. Yell has directed the teacher-training program in emotional and behavioral disorders at USC. He is also the lead author of the textbook Evidence-Based Practices for Educating Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, also published by Merrill/Prentice Hall.
Dr. Yell is a BICA-certified trainer for the following topics:
Dr. Yell also provides customized training including, but not limited to, the following subject areas:
- Special Education Law
- Program Development and Evaluation for Students with Emotional-Behavioral Disorders