Author, advocate to lead California's efforts to teach English learners

Karen Cadiero-Kaplan, a scholar, published author and longtime advocate for students, will lead the California Department of Education’s efforts to help school districts across the state teach English learners effectively, California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced Wednesday.

A professor at San Diego State University, Cadiero-Kaplan chairs the Department of Policy Studies in Language and Cross Cultural Education, which focuses on biliteracy and English language acquisition. She began her career teaching elementary and secondary special education, and English as a Second Language at the community college level, and went on to become a professor and a provider of professional development for teachers and administrators working with bilingual students.

Cadiero-Kaplan has a range of publications focused on the role of education and language policies in curriculum development and teachers’ professional development, including “The Literacy Curriculum; Bilingual Education: A Critical Examination.”

She will take her post mid-January