David Burns

David Burns is an educator, author, and staunch advocate for bringing a more explicit, systematic, and principled approach to teaching and learning. His work takes him across the U.S. and Puerto Rico providing professional development and job-embedded coaching to district leadership, principals, teachers, instructional support staff, and parents.

David specializes in distilling theories and research from cognitive science, philosophy, and linguistics into effective instructional principles and practices that may be utilized with a diverse set of learners across a variety of educational settings.

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David began his career in education as an English teacher and tutor in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. Since then, he has held multiple positions including lead ESOL teacher, bilingual instructional coach, curriculum developer/coordinator, academic dean, and director of language and literacy development for a nationally recognized publishing company. In addition to his work with Principia Learning, he serves as a professional learning facilitator with Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS).

David regularly presents his work on language, literacy, and learning at national conferences and symposiums. His views on the universal implications of reading science and the cognitive foundations of bilingualism have been featured in popular publications such as Language Magazine as well as in other educational forums. He holds a B.A. in English from Old Dominion University and a M.A. in Applied Linguistics from the University of Massachusetts Boston.