Fernanda Marinho Kray

Fernanda Marinho Kray, Ph.D., a polyglot educator and researcher, is senior technical assistance consultant at AIR. She brings more than 20 years of experience supporting multicultural and multilingual learners through the lenses of research, theory, policy, and practice.

Dr. Marinho Kray has authored an array of materials in the field of education (e.g., lead developer for the WIDA English Language Development (ELD) Standards Framework, 2020 Edition; WIDA ELD Standards Implementation Guide and Administrator Supplement; PRIME 2020; Supporting Multilingual Learners’ Language Growth Through Language Development Portfolios; Massachusetts Next Generation ESL Project: Model Curriculum Units and related videos and tools). She has presented her work widely across the nation and internationally (e.g., recently a keynote speaker for the Washington Association of Bilingual Educators and a featured speaker for the U.S. Department of Education’s Lessons From the Field Webinar: Supporting Newcomer Students). In the United States, Dr. Marinho Kray has provided technical assistance to 41 state departments of education, as well worked directly supporting educators at classroom, school, and district levels.

At AIR, Dr. Marinho Kray manages technical assistance projects and teams that apply research and evidence with state and local entities (e.g., program evaluations, strategic planning, professional learning systems, standards implementation). She is also director/principal investigator for a research project focusing on Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education.

Prior to joining AIR, Dr. Marinho Kray served as lead developer for ELD Standards at WIDA in the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin–Madison; and professional development and curriculum coordinator for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Over the years, Dr. Marinho Kray has served as a classroom teacher, family and community liaison, program coordinator, and member of various school leadership teams.

Building on her experience as a formerly undocumented English learner, Dr. Marinho Kray has dedicated her life’s work to developing interdisciplinary perspectives and research-based pedagogies for multilingual learners.