Blanca Quiroz
Program Associate
Blanca Quiroz is a Program Associate with SEDL's Improving School Performance program. Dr. Quiroz works with the Texas Comprehensive Center and the Southeast Comprehensive Center. Her duties include identifying and documenting evidence-based practices and programs to improve educational outcomes for English language learners (ELL) in Texas and the Southeast. She also leads SEDL’s effort to adapt and develop materials and resources for improving educational outcomes for English language learners, particularly in early language acquisition and literacy. Currently, Dr. Quiroz is supporting the development of the early childhood migrant curriculum for the Texas Education Agency (TEA). Other work includes leading the internal dissemination of research-based findings on ELLs’ demographic changes, needs, and resources in Texas and the Southeast. In addition, Dr. Quiroz is a lecturer in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Texas Austin.
Contact Information
You may contact Blanca Quiroz at 512-391-6596
Dr. Quiroz’s areas of expertise include first and second language and literacy acquisition, ELL education, child development, home and school relations, parental involvement, cross-cultural psychology, and learning theories.
- English Language Learners, Family and Community: Dr. Quiroz has 13 years of experience, including authoring numerous articles and presenting at national and international conferences, with research on the school achievement of students from Latino-immigrant families, language and literacy development of first- and second-generation ELLs, parent-teacher communication, and the relationship between home-language use and early literacy skills. She also has 7 years of experience as an elementary and high school bilingual educator.
Prior to joining SEDL’s Comprehensive Centers on June 1, 2010, Dr. Quiroz worked as an assistant professor at Texas A&M University, College of Education and Human Development, Department of Teaching Learning and Culture. Previously, she taught at Wheelock College, Simmons College, and Harvard University at Massachusetts. At the graduate level, she has taught courses in first and second language acquisition theories, ELLs’ educational methods and assessments, developmental psychology, Hispanics in urban schooling, and curriculum theories. At the undergraduate level, she has taught courses in language development, early reading methods, and multicultural literature. Dr. Quiroz also taught bilingual education at the elementary and high school level for the Los Angeles School District for 7 years. Education
Dr. Quiroz received a BA in psychology in the area of developmental and cross-cultural studies from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). She completed an interdisciplinary master’s degree in applied linguistics, sociology, and education from UCLA’s Center for Latin American Studies. She holds a master’s degree in education and a doctorate in human development and psychology from the Graduate School of Education, Harvard University. SEDL Publications
- Research-Based Strategies for Teaching Social Studies, Science, and Mathematics to ELs at the Secondary Level: Texas Comprehensive Center Briefing Paper, Number 9 (2012)
- Title III Supplemental Funds: Creative Ways to Support the Education of English Language Learners in Texas Schools: Texas Comprehensive Center Briefing Paper, Number 4 (2010)
