Kari Yates/Dr. Jan Burkins
Ms. Yates received her Educational Leadership in 2005 from Minnesota State University and her Master of Science in Special Education in 1996 from Mankato State University. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Education in 1985 from Mayville State University. Kari has experience as a classroom teacher, special education teacher, Reading Recovery teacher, elementary principal and district literacy coordinator. Kari is the co-author of To Know and Nurture a Reader; Conferring with Confidence and Joy (Stenhouse, 2018) and the author of Simple Starts: Making the Move to a Reader-Centered Classroom (Heinemann, 2015) and Eat Your Broccoli (Richard C. Owens Publishing, 2005). Her passion is helping busy literacy educators thrive, by building more effective and joyful practices one next step at a time.
Dr. Burkins received her Ed.D., Curriculum and Instruction, Reading Emphasis in 1999 from University of Kansas and her Master of Arts in Early Childhood Education in 1993 from University of Alabama. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Education in 1989 from Birmingham-Southern College. Jan has worked as a classroom teacher, an interventionist, a district literacy coordinator, a regional language arts consultant, a part-time assistant professor, and an independent literacy consultant. Jan is the author or co-author of five books on literacy, including Preventing Misguided Reading (Stenhouse, 2017) and Who’s Doing the Work? How to Say Less so Readers Can Do More (Stenhouse, 2016). Jan’s dissertation, A Meta-analysis of Phonemic Awareness Research (1999, University of Kansas) was a finalist for the International Reading Association’s Dissertation of the Year Award. Jan is passionate about helping educators navigate and understand the complex demands of teaching today while also honoring their inner teacher.
Jan Burkins and Kari Yates are experienced authors, speakers, and consultants. They have deep roots in early childhood education and share a passion for supporting students (and their teachers) in the earliest stages of reading and writing development by providing professional learning experiences and teacher tools. They are the co-authors of Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Balanced Literacy Classroom, (Stenhouse, 2021), a new book that reconsiders some some balanced literacy practices in light of current science in the field.