Principals are the sole leaders at the campus level who are responsible for exercising leadership practices associated with improving classroom instruction (Lochmiller, 2014). Research conducted by Branch, et al.,(2012), support the premise that student educational outcomes are directly linked to principals’ effectiveness, when measured by student achievement. Additionally, researchers propose that students of color living in low socio-economic communities face greater instructional achievement gaps (Khalifa,et al., 2016, Viloria, 2017) because teachers are not well prepared or the curriculum is not culturally relevant. In the United States, minoritized students have long histories of oppression in schools related to their race, religion, ethnicity, citizenship, and language. As the student population becomes increasingly heterogenous, scholars highlight disparities in academic outcomes across various racial, ethnic, and language groups and argue that paradigmatic shifts are needed to effectively serve minoritized students unique educational needs (Gay, 2018; Khalifa et al., 2016). There is an urgency for principals to be culturally responsive instructional leaders that develop and implement the academic mission of the school via the creation of sustainable leadership practices where educational personnel will flourish in the classroom and community (Fullan, 2002). In this case, the academic mission of a culturally responsive instructional leader requires intentional and prescriptive decisions aimed at meeting the socio-cultural needs of low-income and socially excluded students’ instructional learning needs. Therefore, my primary research interest is focused on place-based instructional leadership and local agency to preserve diversity and foster educational equity in both rural and non-rural schools. My primary goal is to prepare educational leaders who are equipped with research-based culturally responsive leadership practices and STEM-based knowledge to lead in diverse public-school systems.

Test Test - 2024

Test Test - 0000

Comprehensive School Reform in Texas. - 2022

Comprehensive School Reform in Texas, - 2015

Una golondrina no hace verano. Mentoring Faculty of Color - 0000

- 0000

- 0000

- 0000

The Voices of Six Third Generation Mexican American Teachers: Implications for Teacher Education Programs

Literacy & Arts Integration in Science: Engaging English Language Learners in a Lesson on Mixtures and Solutions

Culturally Responsive Leadership Practices: A Principal's Reflection

Novice School Principals Advice to Educational Administration Students

Focus on their promise: How Mexican American teachers address challenging classrooms

U.S.-Mexico Borderlands instructional leadership reflections.

The Impact of Dialogue and Narrative on Aspiring and Novice Principals

Let' See How Long you Last: A Chicana Borderlands Principal's Experience

Project ASPIRE: Access and Support for Principals in Rural Education

Investigating Communal Spaces: A Closer Look at the Novice Principal Role

Third-generation Mexican American Teachers’ Cultural Responsiveness

Principal preparation in STEM: An Action Research Project

Teachers and school leaders coalescing to balance the high-stakes assessment field for underprepared and underrepresented Mexican American students in mathematics

South Texas Rural School Novice Teachers

Novice Principals’ Transformational and Transactional Leadership Practices

Effectively using the “Mathematics and Science Correlation Model” in a Spanish context: An expansion of the model

Making a Positive Impact in Rural Places: Change Agency in the Context of School-University-Community Collaboration in Education

Professional Development for Secondary School Teachers and Educational Professionals in STEM Fields

Instructional Research-based Practices Related to Agriculture Science

Preparing aspiring school principals: One field-based approach.

Wait! I Need to Take Care of School Safety: One School Principal’s Experience with Elopement.

The fate of women in education post Iraq War: Lessons offered to multicultural educators

Features of Building Scholars’ Summer Research Weeks towards Student Retention and Graduation

South Texas Rural School Novice Teachers

Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership

Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership

Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership

Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership

Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership

Novice School Principals’ Culturally Responsive Leadership Practices

The Fate of Women in Education Post Iraq War: Lessons offered to multicultural educators. - Progresif Journal of Multiperspective Education 2010

An analysis of extant data that addresses sociological, curricular, instructional, and academic assessment issues that affect Hispanic students’ college readiness in South Texas.. - Journal of Borders Educational Research 2005

Research TAMIU Travel Grant

The Principalship Academy: The Relationship between principalship and students' performance on high stakes math exams at U.S. -Mexico border school districts

Step into the STEM Filed PD-STEP

The Principal Academy Collaboration with Univ. of Alabama

An Investigation of STEM Education & Leadership through Language

Borderlands Discourse: Third Generation Mexican American Teachers' Narratives

Teacher Quality Grant Application

STEM Future: Students, Teachers and Prinicpals

SYSTEMATIC (See Yourself in STEM And Teach In your Community).

Bringing Theory to Practice

Research TAMIU Travel Grant

Research TAMIU Travel Grant

Special Education Leadership Preparation: Are Principals' Prepared for Issues in Special Education?

Science of Teaching Reading

EC-6 Mathematics Pathways: Better Instruction through Mathematics and Small Group Work

Special Education Leadership Preparation: Are Principals Prepared for Issues in Special Education

The Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity (BranchED) Cohort 2 Grant,

Meeting the Educational and Socio-Cultural Needs of Low-income or Socially Excluded Students

Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad- Mexico PR/Award No. P018A230008

Adelante Academy

The relationship between principals’ social emotional leadership and first-generation students’ math identity, agency & college readiness

Student Success Acceleration Program Implementation Grant

Meeting the Educational and Socio-Cultural Needs of Low-income or Socially Excluded Students

ASPIRE Project (Access and Support for Principals in Rural Education)

Rural School Superintendents' Research Project

December 19,2023 (PI), Presidential Research Development Award, Addressing the Principal Shortage: A Principal Residency Pilot Project—Preparing Culturally Responsive School Principals

National Science Foundation, IUSE-HSI Pilot Project Application, Building Academic Success Early for STEM (BASE)

National Science Foundation, IUSE-HSI Pilot Project Application, Building Academic Success Early for STEM (BASE)

National Science Foundation, IUSE-HSI Pilot Project Application, Building Academic Success Early for STEM (BASE)

USDA-NIFA, TAMIU Instructional Professional Development for Agricultural Literacy (TILL & GROW) TAMIU

USDA-NIFA, TAMIU Instructional Professional Development for Agricultural Literacy (TILL & GROW) TAMIU

PNC Fostering Early Literacy Through Picture Books & Play: A Collaborative Writing Process & Emergent Literacy Project at the TAMIU Play

National Science Foundation Design and Development, submitted to the Teaching Strand of DRK-12, Level I, Unlocking STEM Pathways: Dual Enrollment Biology for Teacher Leaders

Unveiling Perspectives: An Investigation into Stakeholder Experiences with Dual Enrollment Programs In South Texas