Dr. Kristy Dunlap is an Assistant Professor in the Literacy and Secondary Education programs in the Graduate School of Education at George Mason University. She earned her Ph.D. in Language, Literacy, and Culture at Stanford University; master’s degree in education with a reading emphasis from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; and bachelor’s degree in English education from St. Olaf College. At George Mason, she teaches Literacy in the Content Areas to preservice teachers in middle and high schools and literacy assessment and instruction courses in the master’s program which prepares teachers to become K-12 reading specialists. She is currently involved with professional development projects in urban schools: one in New York City focusing on content area teachers’ effective practice in middle and high schools with significant student populations of English language learners, and another on effective literacy-related instruction by middle and high school teachers in Washington, DC. Recent collaborations on literacy-related professional development involved teachers in northern Virginia schools with large populations of language minority students, and another with grant-sponsored school reform efforts in the middle grades in Armenia.

Dr. Dunlap has taught 15 years in public school classrooms: reading and English at the middle school level, and, in grades 1-6 teaching students with reading difficulties. During the past 10 years she has supervised preservice interns in middle and high schools in California and in northern Virginia. She has licenses/certification in two states as a K-12 Reading Specialist and secondary level English teacher.

Dr. Dunlap coordinates a Secondary Professional Development School program and currently supervises interns in grades 7-12. She works closely with the secondary school’s clinical faculty and administrators on internship support but also on developing teacher research projects and school partnership efforts with George Mason University.

Dr. Dunlap’s research interests focus on classroom discourse, particularly in secondary schools, and on shifts in teachers’ instructional practice as their beliefs change about their adolescent students’ learning and literacy. She presents regularly on her research at professional organization conferences: the National Reading Conference, American Educational Research Association, College Reading Association, National Council of Teachers of English, and the International Reading Association.

• Classroom discourse
• Effects of discussion participation on students' literacy skills
• Teacher training in facilitating student-led discussions

• Graduate School of Education
• Literacy and Reading
• Secondary Education 6-12

No courses taught this semester.

• Seminar in Emerging Trends and Issues in Literacy (EDRD - 832)
• Literacy in Content Areas (EDRD - 619)
• Special Topics in Education (EDCI - 597)