Kylie Flynn

Overview

Kylie Flynn is a national expert in testing promising educational innovations across academic domains and identifying best practices to support the learning of students with inequitable educational opportunities, including those with disabilities. She has an established record of partnering effectively with school districts and developers to execute educational research projects that inform instructional practices. She is an invited instructor at the Institute of Education Science’s (IES) Cluster Randomized Trials’ Summer Training Institute. 

Flynn leads or co-leads multiple studies funded by IES and the Office of Innovation and Improvement’s Education Innovation and Research program. These projects examine a variety of impactful interventions, including high-dosage math tutoring for preschoolers, a digital game-based social–emotional learning program for 3rd graders, a tiered system of support of early math learning, and a self-affirmation intervention designed to buffer Black and Latinx middle schoolers from stereotype threats. She has also led large contracts with educational companies, such as Scholastic, Newsela, and Age of Learning. As WestEd’s lead senior research scientist, Flynn coordinates research-related quality assurance, professional learning, and compliance activities across the agency. 

Before joining WestEd, Flynn worked at FSU’s Florida Center for Reading Research on several intervention studies funded by IES and the National Institutes of Health and taught reading courses to students in FSU’s special education teacher preparation program. Before her research career, Flynn was a special education teacher for 13 years in California and Florida.  

Education

• PhD in special education, Florida State University
• MS in early childhood special education, Florida State University
• BA in American public policy and English, Michigan State University 

Select Publications

Flynn, K. S., Li, L. Huang, C.-W., Patel, R., Luttgen, K., Yang, S., & Chow, E. (2024). Leveraging technology to address social–emotional learning during the pandemic: Findings from an efficacy trial. Social and Emotional Learning: Research, Practice, and Policy, 4(100045). 

Bang, H. J., Li, L., & Flynn, K. (2022). Efficacy of an adaptive game-based math learning app to support personalized learning and improve early elementary school students’ learning. Early Childhood Education Journal, 51, 1–16. 

Li, L., Flynn, K. S., DeRosier, M. E., Weiser, G., & Austin-King, K. (2021, June). Social–emotional learning amidst COVID-19 school closures: Positive findings from an efficacy study of adventures aboard the S.S. GRIN program. Frontiers in Education, 6,  213. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2021.683142 

Graves, M. F., Flynn, K. S., & Ringstaff, C. (2020). Reflections on 7 years of word strategy instruction. Journal of Education, 201(3), 271–279.  

Graves, M., Ringstaff, C., Li, L., & Flynn, K. S. (2018). Effects of teaching upper elementary grade students to use word learning strategies. Reading Psychology, 39(6), 602–622. 

Barnes, M., Klein, A., Swank, P., Starkey, P., McCandliss, B., Flynn, K. S., Zuker, T., Huang, C., Fall, A., & Roberts, G. (2016). Effects of tutorial interventions in mathematics and attention for low-performing preschool children. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 9(4), 577–606. https://doi.org/10.1080/19345747.2016.1191575  

Flynn, K. S. (2014). Raising a reader handbook: Birth to three. Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Raising a Reader. 

Phillips, B. M., Flynn, K. S., Tabulda, G. A., Jangra, S., & Lonigan, C. J. (2013). Bridging the home and school settings to support children’s language and literacy development. In D. Barone & M. Mallette (Eds.), Best practices in early literacy instruction. Guilford Press. 

Flynn, K. S. (2011). Developing children’s oral language skills through dialogic reading: Guidelines for implementation in a classroom setting of diverse learners. Teaching Exceptional Children, 44(2), 6–14. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F004005991104400201 

Honors, Awards, and Affiliations

Invited Presenter: Institute of Education Sciences of U.S. Department of Education, Summer Research Training Institute, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL (2022, 2023, 2024) 

What Works Clearinghouse Certified Reviewer, Standards 4.1 (2021) 

Member, Council for Exceptional Children (Learning Disabilities, Early Childhood Divisions) 

Member, Society of Research on Educational Effectiveness 

Member, American Educational Research Association 

California State Clear Credentials–Learning Handicapped, Single Subject Credential, English 

Florida State Certification; Early Childhood Special Education, Specific Learning Disabilities