About the Presenters

Katharine Pace Miles, Ph.D. is an associate professor at Brooklyn College, City University of New York (CUNY). Dr. Miles’s research interests include orthographic mapping, high-frequency word learning, reading interventions, and literacy instruction that is both developmentally appropriate and grounded in the Science of Reading. Dr. Miles is the Academic Advisor for Reading Rescue, an evidence-based intervention for first- and second-grade students. She is the author of Reading Ready, an explicit and systematic word reading curriculum for kindergarten and first-grade students. Dr. Miles is also the Co-founder and Principal Investigator of CUNY Reading Corps, which improves preservice teacher training and provides free high-dosage tutoring to historically underserved NYC students.

Dr. Miles completed her doctorate in educational psychology: learning, development, and instruction with a sub-specialization in research on the acquisition of literacy with Dr. Linnea C. Ehri. In her tenure-track faculty line at Brooklyn College, CUNY she teaches and oversees graduate and undergraduate courses in the development and teaching of literacy and in reading interventions. As a former early childhood/childhood teacher and learning specialist, she conducted reading and writing assessments and interventions with students with literacy delays and disabilities. She worked closely with teachers, families, and school psychologists to support student progress.

A teacher with the NYC Department of Education for 22 years, Isabel Simmons has taught grades K-5. For the last seven years, she has worked as a Universal Literacy Coach and a Literacy Collaborative Reading Coach, coaching teaching in grades K-5 in reading instruction. She is a LETRS-trained educator and Acadience Mentor. She has worked as a host for Let’s Learn for the last three seasons. This year, she will be working as an interventionist—working with small groups of struggling readers across the city of New York.

Believing that literacy is a fundamental right for all children, Rebekah Nelson has been an educator for almost two decades. She began her career in an elementary classroom in the South Bronx, where she solidified her passion for educational equity and realized the importance of high-quality instruction. Since then, she has served in several roles with the New York City Department of Education to provide professional learning and resources to educators, develop reading coaches, and support citywide literacy initiatives. She is currently an Instructional Specialist with the NYCDOE.

Eleanor Janszky is a Senior Early Learning Specialist and an Educational Producer for Let’s Learn. She has worked in the Kids’ Media & Education department for The WNET Group for six years. She began her career in educational content development at PBS in Washington, DC and has also taught PreK and early elementary school in New York City and Charlottesville, Virginia. She holds a master’s degree in education and technology, with a focus on early childhood education from Teachers College, Columbia University.