College of Education and Human Development

Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development

Ashley Karlsson, PhD

  • Pronouns: she, her, hers

  • Education Policy and Leadership (Executive Cohort), 2021

Areas of interest

  • Linguistically sustaining pedagogies
  • Language policy and planning
  • Translanguaging and transnationalism
  • Teacher education and development
Degrees

PhD, Education Policy and Leadership, University of Minnesota, 2021
MA, English as a Second Language, Hamline University, 2015
BA, Linguistics and Teaching English as a Second Language, Bethel University, 2009

Biography

I work with the policies and practices that impact the education of multilingual students in K-12 settings. In my current role as a School Advocate for the SE/Metro Regional Center of Excellence, I support school improvement work related to language education and multilingual programming. Prior to my current position, I worked as an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher for several Minnesota districts and adult basic education programs. In addition, I also taught abroad as a youth development volunteer with Peace Corps in Honduras and as a training specialist with a gender development program in Afghanistan. These experiences, along with volunteer work in Chile, Mexico and Lebanon have helped me to develop a global perspective on how education intersects with issues of power, equity and oppression. My ongoing research centers on how language ideologies impact educational practices and how teachers can enact agency as policy makers within their classrooms in support of more linguistically sustaining pedagogies.

Publications

Karlsson, A. (2021). Tracing the Ideologies of State Language Roadmaps: A Discursive Analysis of Education, Economics and Equity in Language Policy (Ph.D. Dissertation). University of Minnesota. conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/223165.

Schornack, M. & Karlsson, A. (2020). (In)visibilization of English Learners in Minnesota’s State Approved Alternative Programs. Current Issues in Language Planning. DOI: 10.1080/14664208.2020.1725332

Karlsson, A. (2015). Implementation of WIDA Standards: A Cross-Case Analysis of Minnesota School Districts (Master’s Thesis). Hamline University School of Education, St. Paul, MN

Presentations

Karlsson, A. (2018). Making Global Education a Reality: A Case for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Minnesota English Learner Education Conference, Bloomington, MN

Karlsson, A.. (2017). Building Capacity for Sustainable Co-Teaching Practices. 10th Annual Second Language Acquisition Student Symposium, Minneapolis, MN

Davis, E., Karlsson, A. & ASCD TIG Awardees. (2017). ASCD Teacher Impact Grants Panel Discussion. ASCD Empower17 Conference, Anaheim, CA

Karlsson, A., Fettig, A. & Boen, S. (2016). Presentation of the Every Student Succeeds Act: State and District Plan Guidance. Learning Forward and NCTAF Agents for Learning Competition, Chicago, IL

Karlsson, A. (2015). WIDA Implementation: Challenges and Successes Across Multiple Districts. Minnesota English Learner Education Conference, Bloomington, MN