Previous to her tenure at UMASS/Boston, she was a full-time faculty member at Wheelock College and in the CUNY system at Lehman College, Hiroshima Japan campus. Teaching in the Boston and Brookline Public School systems accented her early teaching career experiences. She is a co-director of the Boston Writing Project and was on the Board of Trustees of the National Writing Project. Author of two books for children, several articles and monographs, an associate past editor of two journals, her most recent research involves the investigation of curriculum and instructional leadership at the early 19th century Abiel Smith School for free African Americans in Boston, Massachusetts.