Kristin Keane is Assistant Professor of Reading Development in the Berkeley School of Education. She uses mixed methods to study elementary literacy development and instruction in the modern, digital era. She examines 1) how multimodal, digital literacies, and technological approaches impact the teaching and learning of reading, particularly comprehension and text-based discussions, 2) how to best implement evidence-based reading instruction in classrooms, and 3) how varied types of text can be used by teachers as a lever for benefiting students’ meaning making and engagement.
Her work is often situated in the research practice partnership space where she works with teachers and school/district leaders to improve literacy-related instruction and outcomes for all students, especially multilingual students and those labeled as disengaged or behind by their institutions. As a practitioner, she led a network of literacy coaches, served as a literacy staff developer, and taught in various contexts in California.
Her research has been published in Review of Educational Research, Reading Research Quarterly, Teacher and Teacher Education, The Journal of Educational Research, Literacy Research and Instruction, American Educator and Literacy Today. She is the co-editor of Language and Literacy Beyond Decoding.
A proud first-gen student and two-time UC grad, she formerly worked as a research scientist serving as the Director of Research and Partnerships at the Language to Literacy Research Lab at Stanford University where she earned a PhD.
