She began her career as a teacher of English as a second language and, after receiving her doctorate, worked for 14 years at Art, Research, and Curriculum Associates in Oakland, California, where she assisted school districts in addressing issues of equity and conducted research and evaluation studies focused on bilingual programs, school change, and race relations. She also worked with Native Alaskan, Native Hawaiian, and California Indian groups on issues related to language maintenance, ethnic identity, and bilingual education. In all her work, she seeks to apply scholarly knowledge from anthropology and linguistics to address systemic educational problems.