Her scholarly interest centers on effective literacy instruction for students with high incident disabilities, and effective professional development for teachers of such students. Specifically, she is interested in literacy in inclusive content area classrooms, recently focusing on science classrooms at the secondary level. She also examines the connection between secondary instruction, inclusive environments, and post-secondary outcomes for students with disabilities. The secondary strand of Dr. Lauterbach’s research is rigorous research methods in education, specifically qualitative methods, mixed methods, and survey methods. In this role, she has acted as the research methodologist in research in special education, school counseling, and school psychology.