Laura Alvarez

Professional Overview

Laura Alvarez is an Assistant Professor of Teacher Education and Bilingual Education at Saint Mary’s College of California. She has 20 years’ experience as an elementary and middle school teacher, researcher, and teacher educator focused on improving the educational experiences of multilingual and immigrant youth. Alvarez’s research focuses on multilingual students’ language and literacy development in the context of disciplinary learning. Most recently, she was project manager of the Stanford Integrated Science and Language Project, a research project funded by the National Science Foundation focused on creating opportunities for language development through inquiry-based science. Her work as a researcher and teacher educator is informed by 12 years as a classroom teacher in Oakland Unified, where she has taught all subjects in grades 4-8 in bilingual, dual-immersion, and sheltered English programs. Alvarez earned a Ph.D. in Educational Linguistics from Stanford University and an M.A. in Education from Mills College. She has published and presented her work in a variety of journals, books, and conferences and is co-author (with Samway and Pease-Alvarez) of Supporting Newcomer Students: Advocacy and Instruction for English Learners and (with Valdés and Capitelli) of Latino Children Learning English: Steps in the Journey.