Karen D. Thompson

Karen D. Thompson is an associate professor in the College of Education at Oregon State University. Her research addresses how curriculum and instruction, teacher education, and policy interact to shape the classroom experiences of multilingual students in K–12 schools. She has also served as the principal investigator for the Oregon Department of Education and Oregon State University English Language Learner Partnership. Prior to entering academia, Thompson spent more than a decade working with English language learners in California public schools as a bilingual teacher, after-school program coordinator, and school reform consultant. As both a teacher educator and a policy researcher, she works to improve the experiences of multilingual students in U.S. schools. Thompson received her MA in education and bilingual, crosscultural, language and academic development teaching from the University of California, Berkeley, and a PhD in educational linguistics from Stanford University. She also holds an elementary bilingual teaching credential.

updated 2025