Patricia Gándara

pg
Patricia Gándara
Research Professor and Co-Director, The Civil Rights Project,
University of California, Los ANgeles

Patricia Gándara is a research professor in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies and co-director of the Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is also chair of the Working Group on Education for the University of California–Mexico Initiative. Gándara has also been been a professor of education in the University of California system; commissioner for postsecondary education for the State of California; associate director of the Linguistic Minority Research Institute; and codirector of Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE). She is a fellow of the American Educational Research Association, the National Academy of Education, the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center in Italy, the French–American Association at Sciences Po Graduate Institute (Paris), and ETS (Princeton, NJ). She was appointed to President Obama’s Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, and received the distinguished career award from the Scholars of Color Committee of the American Educational Research Association. Gándara received her PhD in educational psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles.

updated 2025

Publications by Patricia Gándara
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…
Rekindling Reform
This report discusses key education policy challenges in California, including funding, teacher quality, achievement gaps, and school accountability. The report highlights the need for equitable funding and effective teacher training and retention…
The report explores why people of Spanish-speaking ancestry in the United States prefer to identify as "Latinos" over "Hispanics." The term "Latinos" is associated with ethnic pride and resistance against Anglo dominance, rather than a pan-ethnic…
A Survey of California Teachers’ Challenges, Experiences, and Professional Development Needs
This report highlights the challenges faced by English learners in California schools and the need for better implementation of policies supporting them. The authors emphasize the importance of recognizing students' diverse linguistic and cultural…