Lara J. Handsfield

Lara J. Handsfield (Ph.D., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2005) is a Professor Emerita of Literacy and Bilingual Education at Illinois State University. Her work centers on literacy instruction and identity in multilingual classrooms, as well as how teachers of multilingual learners negotiate shifting political and pedagogical demands in their work. Her research has been funded by the Spencer Foundation and published in several academic books and journals. She is author of Literacy Theory as Practice: Connecting Literacy Theory and Practice in K-12 Classrooms (2016), the 2nd edition of which will be released in summer 2026.