She received her B.S. from the University of Missouri-Columbia and her M.A. from the University of Kentucky. After teaching students with special needs for 21 years, she left the classroom to pursue her Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in curriculum and instruction with a concentration in early childhood education. Her current interests include coordinating an after-school program for Latino children. It serves as a lab for her college students, where they begin to engage in the Project Approach.