Gabriela Uro

Past Board Member

she/her/hers

The Work I do:  I am the Director of ELL Policy and Research at the Council of the Great City Schools. 

I lead the English learner portfolio of work that includes providing technical assistance to member school districts, leading the ELL program directors cohort, and coordinating and assisting with projects to support the implementation of the college and career ready standards in member districts. In addition, I work closely with the legislative team on legislative and policy matters with congressional staff and the executive branch, namely the U.S. Department of Education.  Over my two decades at the Council, I have co-authored a number of publications, including Supporting ELLs During the COVID-19 Crisis, Sample Assessing Language Proficiency During Extended School Closures, Re-envisioning English Language Arts and English Language Development for English Language Learners, A Framework for Re-envisioning Mathematics Instruction for English Language Learners, ELLs in America’s Great City Schools (2013 and 2019), and Succeeding with English Language Learners (2009). Finally, I have secured over $4 million in funding for ELL-specific projects to support high quality instruction for ELLs in member districts, including the design and development of a hybrid professional learning set of courses focused on building the capacity of teachers, working with English Learners, to teach complex thinking and communication, as well as a set of courses to prepare teachers on teaching ELs to write.  

Prior to the Council, I was a policy advisor in the U.S. Department of Education, to the Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education, and had served as the lead policy staffer to the Office of Bilingual Education (now OELA). I began my career in education policy in California, as a legislative analyst for the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, responsible for following and reporting on the Community College, and adult and vocational education of California.  

My connection to the work of Student Achievement Partners: SAP’s work to provide timely and quality support and resources to help schools across the nation implement college and career readiness standards is entirely aligned to the Council’s effort to improve education in urban schools. I am particularly focused on making sure these improvements are also for the benefit of English learners.  SAP plays an important role in the continuing efforts to improve education nationwide and I look forward to contributing to its evolving capacity building so its work is also directly relevant to EL instruction.

The perspective I bring to this Board: I bring my urban district implementation perspective, channeling the experience and context of the Council’s member districts with which I am in constant contact. I also bring my legislative skills and knowledge that is important to understand the context within which educational reform unfolds.  

I am a native from California of Mexican heritage who has experienced educational systems in at least five countries (four languages) as a student and a mother of students.  These life experiences both engendered and enriched my interest in bilingual education and provided me my identity as a lifelong language learner, currently totaling four languages.