Heather Aiken, PhD, NBCT, is currently the intervention director for Targeted Reading Instruction (TRI; formerly called Targeted Reading Intervention) at Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to this role she spent three years as a TRI literacy coach while completing her PhD in Teacher Education and Curriculum at UNC-Chapel Hill. Her research interests center on early literacy assessment, elementary literacy instruction, and elementary education teacher preparation programs. She spent over 15 years teaching at the elementary level domestically and abroad.