Kristin began her career in education as a VISTA with the Minnesota Literacy Council, where she started and coordinated English learning programs for adult refugees from Laos, Thailand, Russia, and Cambodia. This initial experience inspired Kristin to get her elementary teacher license through an alternative certification program. Her work as a classroom teacher, reading intervention teacher, and literacy coach cultivated a deep and persistent interest in how children learn to read, especially students historically marginalized by traditional practices. She pursued a doctorate at the University of Minnesota to bring research knowledge from multiple domains, including instructional research, cognitive research, and implementation research, to teachers and school leaders to improve student reading outcomes. Her dissertation focused on using informational science texts in the primary grades for knowledge and language acquisition. Kristin also loves to cross-country ski, bike, and swim.
