Diane August

Biography

Diane August, Ph.D., is a managing director affiliated with the American Institutes for Research and a Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Applied Linguistics, both located in Washington DC. Her area of expertise is the development of science and literacy in second-language learners.

She is the Principal Investigator for a large NICHD-funded study investigating the development of literacy in English-language learners and Co-Principal Investigator at the IES-funded National Research and Development Center on English language Learners. At the Center she has she has conducted a series of experimental studies focused on developing science knowledge and skills in middle grade ELLs. She was Staff Director for the National Literacy Panel on Language Minority Children and Youth.

She has been a Senior Program Officer at the National Academy of Sciences where she was study director for the Committee on Developing a Research Agenda on the Education of Limited English Proficient and Bilingual Students. August has worked as a teacher, school administrator, legislative assistant, Grants Officer for the Carnegie Corporation, and Director of Education for the Children’s Defense Fund.

In 1981, she received her Ph.D. in education from Stanford University, and in 1982 completed a postdoctoral fellowship in psychology also at Stanford. She has published widely in journals and books.

See more of this interview with August on our sister website, Colorín Colorado.