Member, CAL Board of Trustees 2018 – 2020

Kathy Escamilla is a Professor of Education in the Division of Educational Equity and Cultural Diversity at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She holds the Bob & Judy Charles Endowed Chair of Education. She received her PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dr. Escamilla’s research centers on educational issues related to Spanish speaking emerging bilingual students in U.S. schools. She is specifically interested in issues related to the development of bilingualism and biliteracy in early elementary grades. Her recent research has also examined assessment practices and the impact of high stakes testing on these children.  Her most recent research project titled, “Literacy Squared” has established the benefits of paired literacy in Spanish and English for emerging bilingual children and the need for assessment practices with a lens on developing trajectories toward biliteracy in Spanish and English.

Dr. Escamilla is a member of numerous professional organizations in education and has served two terms as the president of the National Association for Bilingual Education. She has served as the co-editor of the Bilingual Research Journal, and has served as the chair person of the Bilingual SIG for the American Education Research Association (AERA).

She has published three books and over 50 articles in research journals.