Cynthia Greenleaf, Senior Research Scientist in Literacy at WestEd, has conducted cutting-edge research in academic literacy and translated it into powerful teacher professional development for nearly three decades.
Her work co-developing the Reading Apprenticeship® Instructional Framework has changed classrooms for countless secondary and college students and their teachers. Three large-scale randomized controlled studies validated Reading Apprenticeship’s effectiveness in improving students’ subject area engagement, literacy, and achievement.
Greenleaf leads design-based research supporting the ongoing development of Reading Apprenticeship and contributes to national and international efforts advancing academic and disciplinary literacy. She is presently Content Lead on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Reading Framework update.
Recently, Greenleaf was Co-Principal Investigator of Project READI, a federal research and development project for the Reading for Understanding Initiative of the Institute of Education Sciences. She co-directed several large-scale validation studies and dissemination projects, bringing Reading Apprenticeship to over one million students in high-needs districts across the country.
She has published major research papers, peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, and the best-selling Reading for Understanding and Leading for Literacy books.
Awards and honors include recognition from the National Council of Research in Language and Literacy; the Literacy Research Association; the American Educational Research Association; the University of California, Berkeley; and the National Council of Teachers of English.
Greenleaf received a PhD and an MA in language and literacy education from the University of California, Berkeley, and a BA in linguistics from the University of California, San Diego, where she graduated magna cum laude.