Betsy Beckert

Dr. Betsy Beckert earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. Her work broadly spans Deaf Studies, literacy, literature, and science education. She is particularly interested in understanding the multiple and multimodal literacies of signing deaf children from hearing households. This interest is born out of nearly 20 years of work with deaf youth and the questions elicited by these experiences. Her ultimate goal is to co-design with educators learning contexts that are generative for children who do not have early robust access to spoken or sign language and who, likely because of this and their school experiences, do not see themselves as “readers” and “writers.”

Dr. Beckert is a 2024 National Academy of Education (NAEd) Spencer Dissertation Fellow. Her dissertation explored the often overlooked ways of meaning-making of a signing deaf adolescent. She first collaborated with deaf education teachers and Salvadoran Sign Language experts as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Usulután, El Salvador, from 2008-2010.

Prior to pursuing a doctoral degree, she was a fourth and fifth grade teacher at a dedicated school for signing deaf students outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Outside of work, she is passionate about exploring local hiking trails and coffee shops, rooting for the USWNT, and reading picture books and searching for excavators with her toddler (Rocco) and new baby girl (Atty).