Karen Sakash

Karen Sakash is a Clinical Professor Emerita at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction. Her work focuses on bilingual teacher development, collaboration strategies for ELL support, program evaluations, and K-12 ELL instruction. She holds a PhD in Public Policy Analysis (Education) from UIC (1990), an M.Ed. from Indiana University (1978), and a B.A. in Elementary Education from St. Mary's College (1972).

Research Interests:

• Professional development and certification of bilingual educators
• Cross-program teacher collaboration for ELL support
• Evaluation frameworks for bilingual teacher education
• ELL language proficiency assessments

Grants & Projects:

• MASTEL (2012–2018): $1.6M USD to train Math/Science teachers for ELLs, as Principal Investigator
• STEL (2007–2013): $1.5M USD for secondary ELL teacher development, Principal Investigator
• ST2 (2003–2008): $5.7M USD Teacher Quality Partnership, Co-PI
• Multiple U.S. Department of Education grants focusing on bilingual teacher training and ELL program support