Faculty bio | 541-346-9134

Lillian Durán is an academic expert in bilingual education, early childhood education, literacy, educational policy, special education and dual language learners. Her research focuses on improving instructional and assessment practices with multilingual children. She is currently involved in multiple efforts developing Spanish language and literacy assessments from preschool to 6th grade. She serves as the project director on several Office of Special Education Programs training grants focused on preparing master’s and doctoral students to serve traditionally marginalized populations with disabilities with a focus on equity and improving educational outcomes. Durán frequently delivers presentations nationally on the topic of recommended practices in language and literacy practices with multilingual learners and she has served on multiple equity and diversity councils including the National Association for Young Children and the Division for Early Childhood. Prior to Durán’s work in higher education, she worked for nine years as an early childhood special education teacher both in Prince George’s County, Maryland and in rural southwestern Minnesota.

Recent Media:
Why California still doesn’t mandate dyslexia screening (Cal Matters, Feb. 6, 2023)
Will a universal screening test for dyslexia mislabel California’s English learners? (EdSource, March 7, 2022)
SMART Reading-Children’s Book Bank merger will expand literacy services for Oregon children (The Oregonian, Jan. 18, 2022)
Star Power: Inspiring Change, Pushing Boundaries (University of Oregon, March 2020)
Grants will help boost the pool of special education teachers (Around the O, Dec. 3, 2019)
COE research helps bilingual children find classroom success (Around the O, July 29, 2019)