Dr. York’s vision is simple- Schools where all students learn to read and understand increasingly complex texts and ideas. Her main ingredients for success are authenticity, care, research, and collaborative meaning-making. Dr. York has been an educator with Chicago Public Schools for over 20 years as a teacher, literacy coach, curriculum manager, instructional support leader, director of elementary schools for the Office of Network Supports, and most recently, assistant principal and principal. In each role, she has raised the literacy skills and achievement of children K - HS, particularly Black and Brown children.  As a school-level leader, Dr. York focused on improving student achievement through strategic planning and building teachers’ capacity to lead the instructional work of the school. Her expertise includes coaching, enhancing the literacy skills and achievement of Black and Brown adolescents, instruction, and creating and facilitating effective professional development. She enjoys family, reading, writing, laughing, and riding her motorcycle.

Rachel Manandhar is an Education Specialist focused on increasing educational equity through literacy instruction and intervention at the high school level. Over the past 20+ years, Rachel has had the joy and privilege of working with students from diverse cultural, linguistic, and socio-economic backgrounds in urban public school special education programs. She earned her B.A. in Socio-Cultural Anthropology from Brown University, M.Ed. from Lesley University, and Reading Instruction Certificate from UCSD Extended Studies. Rachel’s current work at Berkeley High School focuses on providing reading and writing intervention to students with dyslexia and language-based learning disabilities, leading professional development on adolescent literacy, and collaborating with colleagues across grade levels and content areas to share evidence-based instructional practices. Outside of school, Rachel enjoys reading and listening to podcasts about literacy endlessly while spending time in the hills and on the beach with her husband, kids, and big dog, Ollie.

An educator in the field for over 20 years, Kate. V. Crist is dedicated to equitable literacy outcomes for secondary students. Kate started teaching high school history in 2004 in the San Francisco Bay Area and since then has held a variety of roles in districts and education non-profits: program coordinator, instructional coach, professional learning director, senior literacy designer. Kate has had the privilege of working with a variety of leading educational organizations such as: StandardsWork, UC Berkeley History-Social Studies Project, Achieve, OCTAE, Lexia, Student Achievement Partners, and UnboundEd. Kate earned her Master of Arts in teaching at University of San Francisco and Bachelor of Arts at University of California Santa Cruz. In her personal life, Kate enjoys spending time in the beautiful wilderness of the Eastern Sierras with her husband and two children.

Christina Cover is the Seek Common Ground Project Lead for the Project for Adolescent Literacy. Christina is a Special Education teacher and the Literacy Coordinator at a public high school in the Bronx. As Literacy Coordinator, she leads a Structured Literacy program created to provide science of reading-aligned literacy instruction and interventions for 9th grade students. Before starting work as a teacher, she worked as a Seek Common Ground Fellow and as Communications Coordinator in the office of Assembly Member Khaleel M. Anderson and also served with the AmeriCorps program City Year. She earned her B.A. in Communication Sciences and Disorders from CUNY Queens College, an M.A. in Intellectual Disabilities/Autism and dual teaching certification in English Language Arts and Special Education (7-12) from Teachers College, Columbia University, and an Advanced Certificate in Reading Science and Literacy (All Grades) certificate from CUNY Brooklyn College. Outside of teaching, Christina is part of community organizing work as a member of her local Community Board and a member of Bronx/Upper Manhattan’s branch of New York City Democratic Socialists of America.

Dr. Brown is the founding teacher of the first public high school structured literacy program in her home state of Vermont. Julie has held a variety of roles, including Structured Literacy Teacher, Literacy Facilitator, Multilingual Learner Coordinator, and Special Educator for Mountain Views Supervisory Union in Woodstock, Vermont. For the past ten years, Julie has taught structured literacy and writing for secondary students and their teachers. She holds an M.S.Ed. in Language and Literacy from Simmons College and an Ed.D. in Reading Science from Mount St. Joseph University. She has had the honor of sharing her secondary literacy work at national conferences, podcasts, and webinars for organizations such as the Reading League and PATTAN Literacy. Julie’s students are her inspiration.