I am a faculty member at UCLA’s School of Education & Information Studies. 

I serve as faculty co-director (with Prof. Tyrone Howard) of UCLA’s Center for the Transformation of Schools. I also co-direct the Language, Literacy, and Learning Collaborative with Prof. Inmaculada Garcia-Sanchez.  

I previously taught at Claremont Graduate University, CIDE in Mexico City, and was an Education Economist at the RAND Corporation. 

I study how to improve teaching and learning for children in low-income settings, and English-Learner classified students. Most of my work studies schools, teachers, and students in the United States or Latin America (mainly Mexico).  I am an affiliate of PACE in California and a faculty affiliate at the Latino Policy and Politics Institute at UCLA. I grew up in Mexico, did my BA in Economics at Tecnológico de Monterrey, and got my MA (Economics, Latin American Studies) and PhD in Education at Stanford University. I have three children and live in Los Angeles. Mi primer idioma es Español.

I am on the Editorial Board at AERJ, RER, IJED, and EEPA. I just finished a stint as one of AERJ's Associate Editors. 

In 2025, I was named an AERA Fellow. 

My CV

My Google Scholar Page

My current projects:

• Dual-language immersion programs: issues of access and equity (see here for a sample of that research: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/732395)

• Chronic absenteeism among ELs and low-income students (work in progress mainly on how to reduce absenteeism and implement culturally-sustaining family partnerships)

• Effects of COVID-19 pandemic on EL academic/social-emotional outcomes (for more on that see here: https://seis.ucla.edu/news/research-by-ucla-cts-scholars-helps-to-inform-record/)

• I also co-lead The Language, Literacy, and Learning Collaborative at UCLA --we do lots of great work around language, language policy, etc. Check our website for working papers, associated faculty, and students.

For Prospective Students: Although this is not always the case, students with a background in quantitative methods, economics, or public policy fit well with my research interests and expertise. If you are interested in working with me, click HERE.