Alexandra Figueras-Daniel

Affiliation

NIEER

Biography

Dr. Figueras-Daniel is an Assistant Research Professor and Bilingual ECE Senior Policy Specialist at the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER). Alex began her career as a preschool teacher in a dual immersion school in New Jersey’s Abbott Pre-K program, later applying lessons learned from the classroom to conducting research at NIEER and for completion of her PhD in Education Policy. Alex is a co-author of the Classroom Assessment of Supports for Emergent Bilingual Acquisition (CASEBA) to measure the quality of language supports for dual language learners in preschool classrooms and co-developer the system using the related Self-Evaluation for Supports of Emergent Bilingual Acquisition (SESEBA) for use by teachers and coaches. Alex has served as the Associate Director of the Straus Center for Young Children and Families at Bank Street College, the Director of Research at Teaching Strategies and as a Senior Research Scientist in the Dual Language and Literacy Lab in the department of Behavioral Sciences at Teachers College, Columbia University. At Teachers College she worked on a study examining the effects of a web-based coaching and professional development model for dual language learners. At NIEER Alex leads work related to dual language learners, including a project devoted to the development of a Latine leadership pipeline in ECE in NJ.