Sara R. Hamerla

Sara R. Hamerla (often cited as Sara Hamerla, Ed.D. or Sara R. Hamerla) is an educator and administrator specializing in English language learners and bilingual education. She has served in roles including elementary ELL coach in the Framingham Public Schools in Massachusetts, focusing on dual language, sheltered English, and bilingual Spanish programming and instruction, and assistant director of programs for English-language learners in the Framingham school district. Hamerla began her teaching career in Barranquilla, Colombia, and later taught in Quito, Ecuador, and she has designed professional development materials on academic conversations and researched their impact on classroom discourse.

Hamerla is the co-author, with Jeff Zwiers, of The K–3 Guide to Academic Conversations: Practices, Scaffolds, and Activities (Corwin, 2018), a toolkit for teachers that supports purposeful, sustained academic talk among young learners. She is also credited as S.R. Hamerla on Situational Context of Education: A Window Into the World of Bilingual Learners (Routledge, 2004). Her work on “Academic Conversations Promote Literacy for ELLs” earned her the Technology and Literacy Award from the International Literacy Association in 2016, recognizing innovative use of technology to advance literacy for English learners.[13