Icela Pelayo

IPelayo
Icela Pelayo
Program Officer, Racial Equity and Community Engagement,
W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Icela Pelayo is a program officer with Racial Equity and Community Engagement at the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, working on the foundation’s efforts on racial equity, community engagement, and leadership to support thriving children, working families, and equitable communities. Previously, she served in various roles at the New Mexico Public Education Department (NMPED), including deputy cabinet secretary for teaching and learning (leading strategic efforts and coordinated policy, program, fiscal management across the department in support of the state’s educators and students), director of operations, and director of bilingual multicultural education (leading the development and implementation of comprehensive state policy that aligned technical assistance, reporting, and monitoring to support bilingual multicultural education and English Learner programs). Pelayo received her PhD in K–12 urban education policy from the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California.

updated 2025

Publications by Icela Pelayo
California’s Quality Education Investment Act
This working paper examines the use of Quality Education Investment Act (QEIA) funds, which allocated $2.6B over seven years to California's lowest-performing schools. The authors conducted a study of four Los Angeles high schools to investigate how…
Policymakers aim to improve student outcomes through the hiring of highly qualified teachers, but there is little consensus on what qualities make a teacher "good." Research on teacher characteristics that impact student achievement is inconclusive…
PACE is bringing back its publication, Conditions of Education in California, to keep the focus on the long-term education reforms required by California. Six policy scholars have contributed to this edition, providing baseline data on school…