Talk to Read Team

Betsy Baker, EdD,  is a Professor of Reading/Literacy Studies at the University of Missouri, a former president of the Literacy Research Association, as well as creator and host of the Voice of Literacy podcast. Dr. Baker specializes in early elementary and emergent reading/literacy learning, digital literacies, and digital pedagogies. Dr. Baker has conducted several studies to investigate Talk to Read as an early reading/literacy acceleration strategy, published findings in Reading Research Quarterly, Journal of Early Childhood Education, and Language Arts and discussed findings with the International Literacy Association.

Cara Wylie, EdD, is a Program Coordinator and Talk to Read grant manager for the eMINTS National Center. Cara was a classroom teacher for 11 years in the St. Louis area before joining eMINTS in 2000. Since then, she has worked with teachers, administrators and technology specialists through professional development and on-site support. She is currently the eMINTS Associate Director and the principal investigator for U.S. Department of Education grants awarded to eMINTS since 2015.

Brooke Higgins, Ed.S., has supported teachers and trainers at the eMINTS National Center since 2004, with a focus on using technology to support high-quality facilitation. She enjoys working with colleagues to create professional development materials for eMINTS programs that implement learner-centered, constructivist experiences powered by technology. Brooke is a facilitator, coach, and the eMINTS Materials Manager, working with grant implementation teams to design, develop, and maintain program materials.​

Maggie Bunten, Ed.S., is the Lead Trainer for the Talk to Read program for the eMINTS National Center. Maggie has 15 years of public school experience serving as a classroom teacher, instructional technology specialist, and library media specialist. During her time with eMINTS National Center, she has developed program materials and led professional development for teachers, instructional coaches, and administrators.

Jennie Jiang, is a researcher at the American Institutes for Research. She is a mixed-methods researcher and her major areas of interest and expertise include teacher preparation, support and development. She provides capacity-building services to education stakeholders, including policymakers, data analysts, administrators, and practitioners of grade K–20 systems. Her work on teacher evaluation was awarded the American Education Research Association 2017 Outstanding Publication Award and has been published in peer reviewed journals including Educational Researcher.

Arielle Lentz, is a research associate at the American Institutes for Research (AIR). She primarily uses quantitative methods to study after-school time, summer, and early childhood learning. Ms Lentz is currently pursuing a PhD in Education Statistics and Research Methods at the University of Delaware, where she studies policy implementation. Before working at AIR, she worked as an after-school and summer program director in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Arielle holds her master's in education policy from the University of Pennsylvania and her bachelor's in early childhood education from Temple University.