Kristin Grayson, M.Ed.
Education Associate, Intercultural Development Research Association

Kristin Grayson, M.Ed., is an IDRA education associate. At Our Lady of the Lake University she is a Ph.D. candidate in leadership studies set to graduate with a joint Ph.D.-MBA degree in 2012. She has written numerous articles concerning the education of English learners, culture, quality teaching and student engagement. She presented a scholarly paper, “Culture and Corruption Correlations: Perceived Corruption in Countries Using Hofstede’s and GLOBE Cultural Dimensions,” at the International Global Studies Conference in Brazil, July 2011. Ms. Grayson has a master’s degree in bilingual, ESL and multicultural education from the University of Central Oklahoma.

At IDRA, Ms. Grayson provides training and technical assistance to school districts, teachers and parents to improve student achievement particularly in the area of gender equity, race relations and English learners. She provides this assistance to current classroom teachers, pre-service teachers, and university professors preparing pre-service teachers. Teacher classroom leadership and student engagement are two of her areas of expertise. She co-developed the IDRA Engagement-Based Sheltered Instruction model of instruction that extends sheltered instruction practices to a level that focuses not only on teaching strategies but also student engagement responses and behaviors particularly within the areas of math and science.

Within her recent work through the South Central Collaborative for Equity (SCCE), Ms. Grayson assisted in the technical assistance and training for the OCR-mandated issues concerning disparate discipline and achievement rates in several school districts. She has worked with districts in Arkansas presenting on harassment and bullying and also has provided other districts professional development for working with ELs. In Oklahoma, her equity center work has recently included teacher assistance for student engagement and achievement at a majority African American elementary school and technical assistance to a school district as it reviewed and redesigned its services district-wide for ELs. In Texas and Louisiana, she has assisted university professors’ design coursework for new teachers that will be working with ELs. Previously, she provided SIOP teacher training in many states.

Prior to joining IDRA, Ms. Grayson worked as a resource specialist for Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas, where she instructed 20 graduate students each year for their ESL endorsement in the state of Kansas. Instruction for this training was conducted online. She also served as the Title III/ESL link to the 20 member districts of the local educational service center in their implementation of programs, procedures and personnel for ELs.

As an area resource coordinator for the Oklahoma City Public Schools, Ms. Grayson assisted, designed and implemented language services to improve instruction ELs at 28 school sites (elementary, middle and high schools) of the school district.

In her 20 years of working in public schools, Ms. Grayson has been an ESL teacher, a Spanish translator and teacher, a language specialist, and a dual language program-grant coordinator, among other positions.

IDRA is an independent, private non-profit organization, directed by María Robledo Montecel, Ph.D., dedicated to strengthening public schools to work for all children. As a vanguard leadership development and research team for more than three decades, IDRA has worked with people to create self-renewing schools that value and empower all children, families and communities. IDRA conducts research and development activities, creates, implements and administers innovative education programs and provides teacher, administrator, and parent training and technical assistance.

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