Our Founder – Dr. Erika D . Tate
Keynotes, Talks, and Appearances
Dr. Erika D. Tate delivered the keynote for the SCCPSS THRIVE! Professional Learning Conference in Savannah, Georgia. Over two days, she addressed 200+ first- and second-year teachers and empowered their commitment to the pursuit of instructional equity. Learn more.
Dr. Erika D. Tate was a guest on Monday Mentor with Jenn! We’re talking equity, community, and leadership! Watch to add learning and inspiration to your day!
Take a sneak peek at Dr. Erika D. Tate’s keynote. She charged educators to facilitate connections with their learners and to push forward meaningful learning anytime, anywhere. Request her today!
Watch this recording of Dr. Erika D. Tate’s talk for the SAFE Speaker Series at Utah State University. She advances equity by advocating for Black women business owners. Also check out the images from the graphic recording.
Dr. Erika D. Tate is featured in Marsha Guerrier’s newest book, “Pathways to HerRise”!
Watch the book launch from International Women’s Day, March 8. All co-authors share their personal journeys. Watch on or Facebook!
Watch this recording of Dr. Tate on LitWorld’s Facebook and YouTube with Duane Davis, Executive Director of the UChicago My Very Own Library Program. This #WRADChat celebrated Black voices in storytelling and explored ways of discussing race and equity with young people!
EDUCATORS: Register to participate in Dr. Tate’s ASCD Symposium Session: Advancing Equitable Instruction through Digital Learning
EDUCATORS: Watch Dr. Tate’s ASCD webinar: A Gift of Digital Learning: Empowering Teachers to Build an Equitable Assessment Practice.
I’m the energetic, passionate, and inspiring founder of Bluknowledge LLC, a learning firm that advances equity through the design and study of learning experiences in schools and communities. Recently, I launched our learning brand, LoravoreⓇ Learning by Bluknowledge, to empower school and community educators to design and deliver effective learning experiences. As well, I am a highly-skilled and effective facilitator and public speaker for both in-person and virtual settings.
For 20 years, I have worked to positively change education and community health through research, design, and evaluation. I apply quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate evidence-based practices that support learning and health among children, youth, and adults, individually and as families and communities.
In education, I specialize in training and instructional coaching for elementary and secondary teachers that center on equity, instructional design, digital learning and STEM teaching and learning. I have an excellent reputation for designing and delivering interactive, community-building, and practice-changing K-16 professional development across the country. I have published and presented on topics related to equity, STEM education, digital learning, and instruction and assessment design, including a book chapter on Designing Science Instruction for Diverse Learners.
Also, I provide high-quality and responsive design, research, and evaluation consulting and advisory services on nationally-funded research grants. Examples include several National Science Foundation grants to design and research technology-enhanced STEM learning experiences for classroom, after school, and community settings; serving as an advisor to the Anti-Racism Interactive Science Education partnership at University of California, Berkeley and the Environmental Protectors project at the Lawrence Hall of Science; and conducting program evaluation for a district-wide K-2 music education program.
My community-based projects have focused on realizing racial equity in education; increasing food access in under-resourced communities; engaging parents in childhood obesity prevention, and growing the number of insured children. Formative research and evaluation for these projects have informed the organizations’ programming and policy recommendations on local and state levels.
I earned my ScB in Electrical Engineering from Brown University and her PhD in Education in Mathematics, Science, and Technology, from the University of California, Berkeley. My doctoral research focused on the design and study of technology-enhanced science instruction that engaged high school students in evidence-based decision-making about community health and environmental justice issues. It is this intersection of equity, technology, STEM, learning, and community that has paved my path forward.
Through my life’s work, I aim to empower equity-driven learning for all, amplify voices often unheard, and advocate for change that benefits those who need it the most. To realize this, I welcome clients, collaborators, and partners!
Tate, Erika D. (2021, July). Advancing Fair and Equitable Digital Assessment. ASCD. https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/advancing-fair-and-equitable-digital-assessment
Tate, E.D., Ibourk, A., McElhaney, K.W. et al. (2020). Middle School Students’ Mechanistic Explanation About Trait Expression in Rice Plants During a Technology-Enhanced Science Inquiry Investigation. J Sci Educ Technol 29, 677–690. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-020-09846-4
Tate, Erika D. and Mason, Venola (2017, 2018, 2019). Quad D Idea Lab: Be Ready for the Unpredictable. Presentations at the Model Schools Conference, Nashville, Tennessee, Orlando, Florida, and Washington, DC.
Tate, E. D., Feng, M., and McElhaney, K. W. (2016). Designing the Idea Manager to integrate STEM content and practices during a technology-based inquiry investigation. In International Perspectives in the Learning Sciences: Proceedings of the 12th International Conference of the Learning Sciences. Singapore: International Society of the Learning Sciences, Inc.
Tate, E. D., Feng, M., and McElhaney, K. W. (2016). Analysis of middle school students’ knowledge integration about trait expression during a technology-based science inquiry investigation Annual Conference of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Baltimore, Maryland.
Tate, Erika D. (2016). Design a STEMaker Learning Experience for Young Learners. Southern Conference on Children, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia.
Tate, Erika D. (2015). Designing a STEMaker Experience for your Students. Presentation at the Model Schools Conference, Atlanta, Georgia.
Debarger, A., Tate, E.D., Beauvineau, Y., Feng, M., Shank, P., Heck, T., and Williams, M. (2014). A design inquiry: Bridging assessment and curriculum frameworks to engage students in science practices. In International Perspectives in the Learning Sciences: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference of the Learning Sciences. Boulder, Colorado: International Society of the Learning Sciences, Inc.
Tate, Erika D. (2013). Participating in community science: A case study of knowledge integration about asthma in a personally relevant science dilemma. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.
Williams, Michelle W., DeBarger, Angela H., Montgomery, Beronda L., Zhou, Xuechun, and Tate, Erika D. (2012). Exploring middle school students’ conceptions of the relationship between genetic inheritance and cell division. Science Education, 96, 78-103. (Read)
Clark, D. B., Sampson, V. D., Chang, H., Zhang, H., Tate, E.D., & Schwendimann, B. (2011). Research on critique and argumentation from the Technology Enhanced Learning in Science Center. M. Khine (Ed.) In Perspectives on Scientific Argumentation: Theory, Practice and Research. The Netherlands: Springer. (Read)
Tate, Erika D. (2009). Asthma in the community: Designing instruction to help students explore scientific dilemmas that impact their lives (Doctoral Dissertation). Available from ProQuest Dissertation and Theses database (Umi No. 3383554).
Gerard, Libby. F., Tate, Erika D., Chiu, Jennifer L., Corliss, Stephanie. B., and Linn, Marcia. C. (2009). Collaboration and knowledge integration. In International Perspectives in the Learning Sciences: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (pp. 188–193). Rhodes, Greece: International Society of the Learning Sciences, Inc. (Read)
Tate, Erika D., Clark, Douglas B., Gallagher, James J., and McLaughlin, David S. (2008). Designing science instruction for diverse learners. In Y. Kali, M. C. Linn, M. Koppal & J. E. Roseman (Eds.), Designing Coherent Science Education (pp. 65-93): New York: Teachers College Press. (Read)
Bierbaum, Ariel. H., Vincent, Jeffrey M., and Tate, Erika D. (2008). Building schools and community. Race, Poverty, & the Environment, 15(1), 79-81. (Read)
Tate, Erika D. and Linn, Marcia C. (2005). How does identity shape the experiences of women of color engineering students? Journal of Science Education and Technology 14(5-6), 483-493. (Read)
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