Our Team
Meet our professional staff and teacher leaders
Professional Staff
Sarah Peterson
Regional Director, CRLP at UC San Diego
sgpeterson@ucsd.edu
Sarah Peterson (she/her/hers) is the Regional Director of the California Reading & Literature Project (CRLP) at UC San Diego (UCSD) CREATE, a position she has held since July 2016. Prior to becoming the Director, Sarah served over a decade as a classroom teacher in the National School District, located 10 miles from the US-Mexico border in South San Diego as well as a long-time Support Provider for Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA). After earning her M.Ed. and Multiple Subject Teaching Credential with a Bilingual CLAD Emphasis (Spanish) from UC San Diego, Sarah developed her capacity for teaching early literacy and working with English Learners in diverse instructional contexts (late-exit bilingual education, early-exit bilingual education, structured English immersion) and grade levels.
Sarah first became involved with CRLP UC San Diego after attending a Teacher Leadership Invitational in 2011. Soon after her first Invitational, Sarah completed CRLP Results: Academic Language and Literacy Instruction (RALLI) training and observed growth in her students’ oral, written, and reading achievement. Now the Regional Director, Sarah is an example of how the California Reading and Literature Project cultivates sustained teacher leadership development. Her professional passions include side-by-side lesson planning and co-teaching and promoting educational equity through student-voice-led programs, such as #USvsHate (usvshate.org).
Sarah resides in the Kensington area of San Diego in a 105-year-old Craftsman bungalow with her husband. Sarah is a proud mama of three feisty young children, enjoys training for and running half marathons, reading novellas/short stories, adores watching historical dramas (Victoria, The Crown, Downtown Abbey) and looks forward to embarking on long family road trips in the near future.
Clarissa White
Program/Financial Manager, CRLP Regional Office & Statewide Office
c3white@ucsd.edu
Clarissa is the Program and Logistics Manager that runs the day to day administrative logistics for the California Reading and Literature Project. She has been with the California Reading and Literature Project since November 2018, but with UC San Diego since 2005. Clarissa’s worked in both academic affairs and student affairs along side staff, faculty, undergraduates and graduates. She finds her career to be the most rewarding with being able to work along side K-14 educators. Being part of the California Reading and Literature Project is EVERYTHING! There is never a day where I do not find even more appreciation to all the educators and partners that we collaborate with. Being with CRLP opened my eyes to the realization that I share the same passion and dedication towards wanting to be some sort of a resource tool in helping to advance literacy for students not just in my direct region but in the state. It has been really inspiring to visit classrooms and assist my directors with professional devlopement workshops. Being able to just listen to the various stories from educators and parents about how their students have been able to benefit from the many learning opportunities that the CRLP offers is out of this world! I really appreciate my position and role that I have with the CRLP.
Betsy Hall
Professional Learning Coordinator
eshall@ucsd.edu
Betsy is the Professional Learning Coordinator for the San Diego Regional and Statewide Offices. Fortunately for me and for my subsequent students, I was introduced to CRLP at the relative beginning of my teaching career. Through my work and training as a RESULTS teacher leader, I learned how to teach and assess the foundational skills. I read and learned about working with multilingual learners and put that learning into practice with my students. The joy in being part of a shared community of passionate, dedicated, research-reading, equity minded, literacy-loving teachers has inspired and sustained me throughout my long career. CRLP has shaped who I am as a teacher and I will forever be grateful for that.
Teacher Leaders
Devin Bakaly
San Diego Unified School District
Barbara Kukuchek
San Diego Unified School District
Christian DeMesa
SDUSD
Alejandra Gomez
SDUSD
Gigi Carrillo
SDUSD
Diana Moreno
Cajon Valley Unified School District
Susan Gutierrez
SDUSD
Geniese Jones
SDUSD
Nicole Neeb
SUHSD
Viridiana Wood
Gompers Prep Academy - SDUSD
Teacher Long
SDUSD
Silvia Miranda
SBUSD
Sonja Badu-Thompson
SDUSD
Christina Perez
SDUSD
Mandy Hermann-Hernandez
SDUSD
Megan Crim
AEACES
Shawn Powell
AEACES
Laura Anderson
AEACES
Jennifer Peterson
SDUSD
Kelly Gonzales
SDUSD
Kate Monko
SDUSD
Jayme Wynn
SDUSD
Jennifer Schafran
SUHSD
Teacher
George Porter
CUSD
Whitney Doucette
SDUSD
Instructional Coach
April Boyle
SDUSD
Sarah Murray
SDUSD
Kelly Johnson
SDUSD
Instructional Coach
Kim Barnes
SDUSD
Literacy Coach
Kelly Parker
SDUSD
English/Social Science Teacher
Katie McKinney
National School District
Classroom Teacher
Katie Crosbie
National School District
NBCT District Resource Teacher
Kristin Watts
San Diego Unified School District
English Language Instructional Resource Teacher
Liliann Patterson
Calipatria Unified School District
Assistant Superintendent CUSD
Vesta Namiranian Beltran
Chula Vista Elementary School District
Biliteracy Classroom Teacher
Carisa Barnes
San Diego Unified School District
Secondary Literacy Coach
Shannon Alberts
Carlsbad Unified School District
AP Language & Composition Teacher
Janice Anderson
San Diego Unified School District
Literacy Acceleration Coach
Evy Baca
Lakeside Union School District
Biliteracy Classroom Teacher
Janine Campos
National School District
Language Arts Specialist
Angela Censoplano-Holmes
National School District
District Resource Teacher
Celeste Flores
South Bay Union School District
Classroom Teacher
Martha Garcia Gallaga
National School District
Transitional Kindergarten Teacher
Dalilah Gil
National School District
District Resource Teacher Parent Engagement
Kara Holtzman
National School District
Classroom Teacher
Brooke Klein
Encinitas Unified School District
Classroom Teacher
Melissa Kruse
National School District
Classroom Teacher
Kathrina Mendez
UC San Diego EDS
Elementary Education Lecturer/Supervisor
Artemisa Perucho-Green
Poway Unified School District
NBCT Biliteracy Teacher
Marisa Plasencia-Contreras
Poway Unified School District
NBCT Biliteracy Teacher
Ashley Trzcinski Stewart
National School District
Classroom Teacher
Leadership Teams
CS for EL
Katie Crosbie
Evy Baca
Katherine McKinney
Artemisa Percucho-Green
Coding our Future (COF)
Katie Crosbie
Evy Baca
Katie McKinney
Artemisa Perucho-Green
Marisa Plascencia-Contreras
California Literacy State Development Grant (CLSD), Priority Area 3
Carisa Barnes
Dalilah Gil
Martha Garcia-Gallaga
Kristin Watts
Kathrina Mendez
ONWARD Book Club & Transformational Coaching
Martha Garcia-Gallaga
Dalilah Gil
Kathrina Mendez
Liliann Patterson
Results for Reading Comprehension (RRC)
Angela Censoplano
Celeste Flores
Kathrina Mendez
Artemisa Perucho-Green
Janine Campos
Results: Word Recognition & Fluency (RESULTS)
Kim Barnes
Angela Censoplano
Janice Anderson
Kathrina Mendez
Celeste Flores
Betsy Hall
Spanish English Biliteracy Transfer (SEBT)
Evy Baca
Dalilah Gil
Liliann Patterson
Vesta Namiranian-Beltran
California Dyslexia Guidelines
Betsy Hall
California Gear Up
Shannon Alberts
Kristin Watts
Carisa Barnes
Learning How English Works (LHEW)
Katie Crosbie
Carisa Barnes
Kelly Johnson
Whitney Doucette
Kelly Parker
Sarah Murray
Shannon Alberts
Become a teacher leader
If you are interested in becoming a Teacher Leader we want to hear from you! Fill out our contact form to learn more about this incredible opportunity.