Every Educator an Advocate: Janet Foor on Her 40 Years in Education
Written by:
Wilson College Online
• Jun 9, 2026
Janet Foor, Ed.D., retired in 2023 after a 40-year career working in Pennsylvania’s public schools. At that point, she’d seemingly done and seen it all. She’d been, among other things, a special education teacher, a reading specialist, a principal, and the Chambersburg Area School District’s director of special education. Dr. Foor also served as a director of student services at the Central Fulton School District, an educational executive director at the Vista School, an approved private school for individuals with autism, and a certification specialist for the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
No matter what educational role she held, Foor’s goal had been the same.
“I’ve always had a very strong passion for preparing students for the next level, whatever that is,” she said. Driven by that passion, Foor found it difficult to step away from the field completely.
The same year she retired from K-12 education, she transitioned from a part-time adjunct professor role at Wilson College (a position she’d held for 10 years) to a role as a full-time assistant professor of special education. Now, she’s imparting her expertise, wisdom, and passion to the next generation of educators enrolled at Wilson.
A Commitment to Her Students’ Success
One of the most important lessons Foor said she’s learned in her career is that to empower students to succeed, teachers must make education relevant to their lives. This fact became painfully apparent during an interaction Foor had with a student when she was a high school principal.
“I can still see myself talking to him with his graduation gown on,” Foor said. “I said, ‘Well, Kyle, what are you going to do?’” The student responded that he had absolutely no idea.
“It broke my heart, because I felt like this student had gone through 13 years of school and he had no clue what he wanted to do with the rest of his life,” she said. “I truly felt at that point our educational system had failed him.”
When Foor was later pursuing her Doctor of Education, that moment still weighed heavily on her, so she decided to take action.
Making Secondary Education Meaningful and Engaging
For her doctoral dissertation, Foor surveyed 50 years’ worth of alumni from Chambersburg’s two public high schools. She asked them about their careers, their level of “success”, whether they were happy with their current job and living situation, if they thought high school prepared them for their careers, and what subjects or courses were the most and least beneficial.
“English was number one across all levels of income, all walks of life,” Foor said of her findings, noting that many respondents said their communication skills had played a key role in their professional and personal lives.
The next two most beneficial subjects, according to alumni, were civics and health. Once again, alumni found what they learned about these subjects was applicable to their daily lives. The least beneficial subject, respondents said, was math, in terms of applicability and relevance to their current job and living situation.
Foor brought these insights to her fellow educational leaders around Chambersburg, advising them on how to enhance the effectiveness of their most impactful classes. Just as importantly, she helped her colleagues add a more engaging edge to classes in subjects that had the lowest alumni rankings, such as math.
Applying Her Research to Teacher Education
The real-world impact of Foor’s research may very well benefit generations of students in Chambersburg and beyond. But, while she imparts this wisdom to her students, Foor also strives to make her own curriculum as engaging as possible.
“I keep what students are going to need and what they’re going to experience out there at the forefront,” she said. “I am much more project-based than traditional.”
To that end, Foor’s classes are full of case studies and scenarios, activities that encourage students to actually practice their skills and use critical thinking. In her Students with Special Needs course, for example, Foor has her students go through the entire process of creating an individualized program complete with recommendations for assistive technologies designed to support specific types of learners.
This way, her students will enter the workforce with not just the knowledge they need to support every student but also the confidence required to be effective advocates for their students’ success.
Advocating for Students’ Rights
As a full-time assistant professor of special education at Wilson, Foor has a full schedule. In addition to her Early Intervention class, she teaches Students With Special Needs, Differentiated Instruction, Instruction and Assessment for Students with Autism, and Parent Conferencing and Collaboration courses. She also serves as a college supervisor for students in their Pre-Practicum and Practicum experiences. No matter what type of education degree Wilson students pursue, they’ll likely have the opportunity to take one of Foor’s classes.
Despite that, Foor has found time to take on another postretirement gig: consultant and expert witness for a law firm in Washington, D.C. that specializes in special education advocacy.
“I’m assigned an attorney to work with, and we work with the family and the student,” she said. “The attorney handles the legal end of it, and I handle the educational recommendations.”
Given her expertise and experience, Foor is a natural for this type of position. She’s also always loved the intricacies of special education law. If she was younger, she said, she would pursue a law degree.
While her impact in this role is significant, Foor believes she’s just doing what all of her colleagues do every day, only in a more formal setting.
“There’s an advocate in every special educator,” she said. “Being able to advocate and get what these students need and rightfully deserve under the law is very gratifying.”
Become the Resource That Students Deserve
With her decades of experience and student-first approach, Janet Foor, Ed.D., is an invaluable resource for students in Wilson College Online’s Bachelor of Arts in Special Education,
<a class=“text-primary” href=“ https://online.wilson.edu/programs/masters-degrees/masters-in-special-education/"target="_blank" rel=“noopener noreferrer”>Master of Special Education, and other <a class=“text-primary” href=“ https://online.wilson.edu/programs/education-degrees/"target="_blank" rel=“noopener noreferrer”>education degree programs. She helps preservice educators build the skills they need to start rewarding careers and experienced professionals gain the tools they need to grow.
No matter where they are in their education careers, all of Foor’s students stand to learn how to empower their own students to succeed in and out of the classroom. To find a program that can help you do just that, request more information from Wilson College today.
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