George Ellis

Prior to becoming the Director of the California Reading & Literature Project in 2017, George Ellis worked as a Teacher of Special Programs for the Berkeley School of Education and as the Program Lead for Elementary Education for CRLP at UC Berkeley from 2012-2017. In his role as Director, he oversees CRLP’s annual Teacher Leadership Invitational, collaborates with local school districts to support the implementation of evidence-based reading initiatives, and serves as an educational consultant on projects focused on continuous improvement and multi-tiered systems of support. He leads professional development for educators around the Science of Reading, Language & Literacy Instruction, Reading Comprehension Instruction, the California Dyslexia Guidelines, and Spanish-English Biliteracy Transfer. Mr. Ellis has also worked as a contributing author, consulting author, and editor for three of CRLP’s signature programs: Results for English Learners (REL), Content Area Language and Literacy (CALL), and Results: Academic Language and Literacy Instruction (RALLI). He most recently served as the Editor of the 2022 CRLP Results for Reading Comprehension: Scaffolding Complex Text teacher handbook.  

In addition to his role at CRLP, George also teaches in the Berkeley Teacher Education Program (BTEP).  In the fall semester, George teaches the 231B methods course Multilingual Learners, Language and Literacy for all elementary and secondary pre-service teaching candidates. In this practice-forward course, BTEP students learn instructional strategies, engage in collaborative lesson planning, and analyze assessments to gain a deeper understanding of culturally and linguistically responsive instruction.

Originally from the Bay Area, George Ellis graduated from UC Berkeley in 1998 with a BA in International and Area Studies and later from the San Francisco State Graduate School of Education with a BCLAD bilingual multiple-subject teaching credential. Upon entering the world of elementary education, he began teaching Kindergarten at Belle Air Elementary school in his hometown of San Bruno for more than 19 years. In addition to his experiences as a bilingual classroom teacher, George has also worked as a Reading Coach, New Teacher Mentor, and Professional Development Coordinator for the San Bruno Park School District.

George has a passion for reading and literacy instruction, and is extremely excited to share his knowledge and expertise with the BSE community, as well as the larger community of educators and teacher leaders throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.