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Lizdelia Piñón, Ed.D., is IDRA’s education associate with more than 20 years of experience in bilingual and ESL education in both K-12 as well as higher education. She has worked as a bilingual/ESL teacher, university instructor and graduate research assistant in education. Her areas of expertise include bilingual education, ESL (both K-12 and adult learning) programs and educational implementations. Growing up in Chicago, she attended as a student one of the first dual language programs from prekindergarten through eighth grade.

Dr. Piñón provides professional development and technical assistance to schools across the nation on effective bilingual education for all students. She designs and delivers interactive training that provides teachers tools for increasing student achievement in bilingual education areas. She also coordinates service delivery to schools across the U.S. South to ensure all students receive an excellent and equitable education, regardless of their national origin, native language or immigration status. In 2022, Dr. Piñón was appointed to the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) Bilingual Special Education Educator Standards Advisory Committee. She provided invited expert testimony before the Texas House Public Education and Higher Education Committees on an interim charge regarding the teacher shortages in public schools.

Dr. Piñón earned her doctorate of education in educational leadership from Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth, Texas. Her dissertation focused on implementation of translanguaging. She earned a master of science in literacy education and an advanced certificate of graduate studies in teaching English as a second language (TESOL) and bilingual education from Northern Illinois University (NIU) and a bachelor of arts in political science with a minor in Spanish from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). She holds a principal certification, and a generalist teaching certificates in EC-6 as well as in 4-8, as well as a bilingual education certification for grades EC-8 in both Texas and Illinois. She is fluent in Spanish and English.

Dr. Piñón has served as a public school bilingual and ESL teacher, bilingual education department chair and mentor for teachers in the Bensenville School District in Illinois. She has also worked closely with Everman ISD on several education initiatives and research action projects during her one-year superintendent internship.

While at TCU, Dr. Piñón was an instructor for undergraduate courses in the College of Education and the Intensive English Program. In this role, she trained in-service and pre-service teachers to implement equitable teaching and learning practices within TESOL curriculum and instruction. She trained international teachers and ran the TCU’s international Panamá Bilingüe program; founded the TCU Bilingüe program, trained TCU staff members in English language; organized the first-ever diversity, equity and inclusion training for TCU staff in the Intensive English Program; and co-taught in the Free English Collaborative (a six-U.S.-university cooperative that served students on various continents during the pandemic).

Dr. Piñón has also been a community advocate in North Texas for the past decade. One of her biggest passion is being a voice for those that do not have a voice. She helped start the first Hispanic Family Advisory at Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth and is a member of its educational literacy committee. She is also an active member of the MHMR equity committee as well as their ECI Early Wellness Council.

Media featuring Lizdelia Piñón

San Antonio’s bilingual students affected by U.S. teacher shortage, Madalyn Mendoza, Axios San Antonio, March 1, 2023

How second- and third-generation Latinos are reclaiming the Spanish language, by Karen Garcia, LA Times, January 31, 2023

Conversaciones Criticas entre Padres y Ninos – Dra. Lizdelia Pinon, Por Nuestros Niños podcast, January 29, 2023

Weeks into school year, vacancies impact bilingual and special education classrooms, by Kelly Wiley, KXAN News, October 6, 2022

Texas Must Build a Strong Bilingual Teacher Workforce – IDRA Testimony on interim charge regarding the teacher shortages in public schools, presented by Lizdelia Piñón, Ed.D., to the Texas House Public Education and Higher Education Committees, September 20, 2022 (Slidedeck) (Video)

Testimony by Lizdelia Piñón

Texas’ Forthcoming Bilingual Special Education Certificate Should Require Specific Skills for Teachers of Dually-identified Students, IDRA Testimony for the proposed Bilingual Special Education Educator Standards, submitted by Lizdelia Piñón, Ed.D., to the Texas State Board for Educator Certification February 10, 2023

Texas Must Build a Strong Bilingual Teacher Workforce – IDRA Testimony on interim charge regarding the teacher shortages in public schools, presented by Lizdelia Piñón, Ed.D., to the Texas House Public Education and Higher Education Committees, September 20, 2022 (Slidedeck) (Video)