Erica Caasi

Dr. Erica Caasi is a clinical assistant professor in the Language & Literacy Education Department at Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. At the heart of her work is supporting young people and teachers to engage with texts in ways that build from their lived experiences toward sense-making about themselves, each other, and their communities. Much of her work centers on engagement with multimodal texts, such as picture books, videos, and other media, to navigate conversations about bodies, identities, and belonging. Working across educational settings, including classrooms and after-school spaces, she investigates how such contexts can create room for critical discussions, particularly as teachers and students together negotiate questions of identity and representation in literacy teaching and learning.

She works closely with future educators and partners alongside practicing teachers and schools, primarily in elementary and early childhood contexts, to cultivate culturally sustaining and community-engaged literacy practices. This work has included a multi-year research–practice partnership across literacy and mathematics in four U.S. states focused on rethinking approaches to teacher-centered professional development.

Before joining BU Wheelock, Dr. Caasi held several roles in both K–12 and higher education. She served as a K–5 district instructional specialist in Denver Public Schools, where she coached school leaders and supported district-wide curriculum implementation. She has taught 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades in the Bay Area, the Maryland/DC region, and the Denver metropolitan area. She has served as a Column Co-Editor for Responsive Teaching in Action in Language Arts, a peer-reviewed journal of the National Council of Teachers of English.

pronouns: she/her