Kierstin Giunco , PHD

Kierstin Giunco, Ph.D. (she/her), is an elementary literacy and curriculum educator and scholar who brings and shares a practitioner-inquiry lens to her teaching of undergraduate and graduate courses. Her research draws on qualitative methods within long-term partnerships to explore how educators make sense of their contexts and develop their agency as they adapt curricular materials to support and affirm all learners. Her work has been published in Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice, Urban Education, Action in Teacher Education, Teacher Development, and The Reading Teacher.

Giunco’s perspective is shaped by her classroom experience teaching first grade in a self-contained, inclusive setting and English Language Arts to students in grades 4 through 6. She received the International Literacy Association’s 30 Under 30 award for her teacher research on an advocacy-focused literacy unit and currently serves in a leadership role within the Teacher as Researcher Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association. Beyond K-12 classroom teaching, she has served in administrative roles supporting curriculum efforts and has coached over fifteen teachers across seven schools. 

Curriculum and Instruction: Boston College (Literacy, Language, and Culture & Leadership, Policy, and Educational Change)

International Literacy Association's 30 Under 30 Award

New England Education Research Association's John Schmitt Outstanding Research Award

Massachusetts Association of College and University Reading Educators' Celebrate Literacy Award

American Educational Research Association (Teacher as Researcher Special Interest Group )

Literacy Research Association (Publications Committee )