She earned her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction: Literacy Education from the University of Minnesota and a master’s degree in Secondary English Education from Pace University (NY). After graduating with a B.A. in English and History from Duke University, she taught middle and high school English in a variety of settings—public and private, urban and suburban schools—for nine years. Her research and teaching interests include critical literacy, multicultural literature, and culturally relevant pedagogy and how it is enacted in school settings.