Kyung Mi Min

Affiliation

Illinois State University

Biography

Dr. Kyung Min is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Special Education at Illinois State University. Her teaching and research focus on early childhood special education, assessment practices, and literacy development in multilingual learners. With over a decade of experience as an educator, Dr. Min integrates culturally responsive pedagogy and cognitive science to support inclusive learning environments for young children with and without disabilities. She earned her Ph.D. in Special Education from the University of Kansas, where her dissertation explored the relationship between working memory, oral language development, and reading comprehension in bilingual learners. Her research applies frameworks such as the Science of Reading and cross-linguistic transfer theory to investigate the cognitive underpinnings of early literacy acquisition. She is passionate about bridging research and practice, equipping future educators with tools to meet diverse learners’ needs through data-informed, developmentally appropriate strategies. Before joining ISU, Dr. Min worked as an early childhood special education teacher in Topeka Public Schools and taught online at Grand Canyon University. She also served as a research assistant at the University of Kansas’s Little Bilinguals Lab. A committed teacher educator and researcher, Dr. Min continues to advocate for early, equitable intervention and culturally sustaining practices in both academic and community settings.