Blanca Quiroz
Program Associate

Blanca Quiroz is a Program Associate with SEDL's Education Systems Support (ESS) 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

or by using SEDL's contact form.

Areas of Expertise
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.

Experience
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)
• Stepping Stones: A Texas Migrant Early Childhood Program for 3- and 4-Year-Olds (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)

Selected External Publications

• Greenfield, P. M., & Quiroz, B. (in press). Context and culture in the socialization and development of personal achievement values: Comparing Latino immigrant families, European American families, and elementary school teachers. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology.
• Dixon, L. Q., Zhao, J., Quiroz, B., & Shin, J.-Y. (2012). Home and community factors influencing bilingual children’s ethnic language vocabulary development. International Journal of Bilingualism, 16(4), 541–565. doi:10.1177/1367006911429527
• Greenfield, P. M, Rothstein-Fisch, C., Trumbull, E., & Quiroz, B. (2012). Bridging cultures in early childhood education. In R. E. Tremblay, M. Boivin, & RdeV Peters (Eds.), Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development (pp. 1–5). Montreal, Quebec: Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development and Strategic Knowledge.
• Joshi, R. M., Tao, S., Aaron, P. G., & Quiroz, B. (2012). Cognitive component of componential model of reading applied to different orthographies. Journal of Learning Disabilities. Advance online publication. doi:10.1177/0022219411432690
• ­­­Quiroz, B., & Dixon, L. Q. (2012). Mother–child interactions during shared literacy activities: Education in a fractured bilingual environment. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 12(2), 137­–173.
• Dixon, L. Q., Chuang, H.-K., & Quiroz, B. (2010). English phonological awareness in bilinguals: A cross-linguistic study of Tamil, Malay, and Chinese English-language learners. Journal of Research in Reading, 35, 372–392. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9817.2010.01471.x
• Quiroz, B. G., & Snow. C. E. (2010). Y dónde está la rana? Latino mothers’ picture-book based interactions with their children. Bilingual Research Journal, 32(3).
• Quiroz, B. G., Snow, C. E., & Zhao, J. (2010). Vocabulary skills of Spanish/English bilinguals: Impact of mother-child language interactions and home language and literacy support. International Journal of Bilingualism. 14(4), 379–399.
• Eslami, Z., Eslami-Rasekh, A., & Quiroz, B. (2007). English for academic purposes in Iran: A study of perceptions of English needs in academic contexts. ESP Across Cultures, 4, 21–36.
• Trumbull, E., Greenfield, P. M., Rothstein-Fisch, C., & Quiroz, B. (2007). Bridging cultures in parent conferences: Implications for school psychology. In G. B. Esquivel, E. C. Lopez, & S. G. Nahari (Eds.), The Handbook of Multicultural School Psychology. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Greenfield, P. M., Trumbull, E., Keller, H., Rothstein-Fisch, C., Suzuki, L., & Quiroz, B. (2006). Cultural conceptions of learning and development. In P. A. Alexander & P. H. Winne (Eds.), Handbook of educational psychology (pp. 675–692). (Special edition APA division 15).

Selected External Presentations

• Dixon, L. Q., Chuang, H.-K., & Quiroz, B. Q. (2009, June). Does vocabulary predict phonological awareness among bilingual children? Poster presented at Society for the Scientific Studies of Reading Annual Meeting, Boston, MA.
• Chuang, H.-K., Joshi, R. M., & Quiroz, B. (2009, April). Does the length of  learning English as a foreign language impact reading comprehension scores? Poster presented at American Educational Research Association, San Diego, California.
• Quiroz, B. G., & Dixon, L. Q. (2009, April). Cultural and linguistic challenges to adapting and implementing a parent-child literacy curriculum for bilingual families in the US. Paper presented in a symposium at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA.
• Shin, J.-Y., & Quiroz, B. G. (2009, April). Intergenerational literacy within bilingual families: conceptual and methodological issues addressing diversity. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA.
• Zhao, J., Quiroz, B. G., & Hammer, J. (2009, April). Home language and literacy resources: Variation within Latino-bilingual families. Poster presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA.
• Quiroz, B. G., Dixon, L. Q., Zhao J., & Chuang, H.-K. (2009). Spanish-English pre-kindergartners' language skills: Home and school factors. Paper presented at the 32nd Annual meeting of the Southwest Education Research Association, San Antonio, TX.
• Quiroz, B. G., Dixon, Q., & Zhao, J. (2008, October). The role of linguistic difficulty in mother-child language interactions: Language complexity and variety of discourse functions. International Conference on Models of Interaction in Bilinguals, Bangor, Wales.
• Zhao, J., Quiroz, B. G., & Hung, C. (2008, February). Early childhood English language education in EFL settings: Is the effort worthwhile? Paper presented at the 31st annual meeting of the Southwest Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA.
• Diaz, Z., Hammer, J., & Quiroz, B., (2007, March). Parents don’t care: Views of teachers’ candidates. Paper presented at TESOL convention, Seattle, WA.
• Shin, J. Y., Eslami, Z., & Quiroz, B. (2006, March). Awareness of family literacy for American families who adopt Korean children. Paper presented at the Second International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
• Quiroz, B. G. (2005). Home-language skills and family characteristics predicting the vocabulary skills of Spanish/English bilinguals. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Education Research Association, Montreal, Canada.