Lori Helman

Lori Helman, PhD, is associate professor at the University of Minnesota in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and director of the Minnesota Center for Reading Research. She specializes in literacy education for preservice and graduate students and works closely with elementary schools to implement schoolwide approaches to curricular reform. Formerly an elementary bilingual classroom teacher, she was also coordinator of beginning teacher development and literacy coordinator of her school district. She has expertise in working with students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and her research examines literacy learning for emergent bilinguals, students who struggle with learning to read, and biliteracy development for Spanish speakers. She is lead author of the Words Their Way with English Learners and Palabras a Su Paso series as well as of Literacy Instruction in Multilingual Classrooms from Teachers College Press.