Ashley Simpson Baird
Ashley Simpson Baird is a senior researcher in the Center for English Language Learners at AIR, and is an experienced educator and mixed methods researcher. She has taught language learners of all ages from preschoolers through adults. Dr. Simpson Baird's primary responsibilities at AIR include providing expertise related to the education of English learners (ELs) and dual language learners (DLLs) for research, evaluation, and technical assistance projects. She has extensive knowledge about language acquisition, literacy, family engagement, and policy. She is a co-author of the Cultivating Oral Language and Literacy Talent in Students, a bilingual early literacy program for preschool DLLs. She has served as project director of Early Warning and Risk Prevention of ELs through the Regional Education Laboratory Southwest and is currently directing an evaluation of Baltimore County Public Schools’ (MD) Spanish program for grades 4-8.
Dr. Simpson Baird received her Ph.D. in Education from the University of Virginia, where she was the lead curriculum designer for the Curry School’s online courses towards an EL teaching endorsement. Her dissertation examined EL family engagement at an urban elementary school that recently experienced an influx of Latino students. Prior to pursuing graduate studies she was a teacher and administrator at Briya Public Charter School in Washington, DC, a multicultural family literacy program for parents and children ages 0-5. She is published in several journals including Language Learning, Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, School Community Journal, and TESOL Quarterly. She began her career as a Peace Corps volunteer in Bolivia and is bilingual in English and Spanish.