About the Authors

Nancy Lee Cecil has had a rich and varied background in education, as an elementary school teacher and a literacy specialist in New York, urban Savannah, Georgia, and in the public schools in the U.S. Virgin Islands. As a result of these experiences, she is especially attuned to the needs of linguistically and culturally diverse children. Cecil received her doctorate from the University of Buffalo and currently teaches in the Department of Teacher Credentialing at California State University, Sacramento, where she was awarded the prestigious Outstanding Educator Award. She has written nineteen books on literacy, most recently Phonemic Awareness and Music: A Feast of Rhyme, Rhythm, and Song, and received the Teacher’s Choice award for an earlier book, For the Love of Language: Poetry for All Learners. Cecil also has had many articles published in major literacy journals. She has spoken about literacy to groups of educators on local, national, and international levels.

Sue Baker has taught in public schools at the kindergarten through high school levels in Soledad, Watsonville, and Los Angeles, California; Arlington, Virginia; and Mexicali, Mexico. She has worked primarily in bilingual settings with students who are English learners, and has taught literacy in English and Spanish. Baker earned her doctorate from Stanford University and currently teaches in the Department of Teacher Credentialing at California State University, Sacramento. Her research interests include the development of biliteracy, the use of culturally sustaining pedagogy in teacher education, and the fostering of teacher/parent relationships across social class, cultural, racial, and linguistic boundaries. She is currently the Principal Investigator for the CSU, Sacramento branch of the California Reading and Literature Project.

Albert Lozano has been a third-grade bilingual teacher in San Bernardino, and has a Bilingual Crosscultural Language and Academic Development (BCLAD) credential and a Master of Arts degree from California State University, San Bernardino, and a doctorate from Stanford University. He teaches courses on elementary literacy, English language development (ELD), and specially designed academic instruction in English (SDAIE) in the Department of Teacher Credentialing at CSU, Sacramento, as well as thesis writing and education research in the Graduate and Professional Studies in Education program. His current research focuses on the effectiveness of credential programs in preparing teachers to instruct English learners; fostering the oral English proficiency of English learners; and helping to develop bilingualism/biliteracy.