Karina Chapa

Affiliation

Texas Association for Bilingual Education

Biography

Born and raised in Monterrey, Mexico, Karina completed her Bachelor’s in International Relations from el Tecnológico de Monterrey. After moving to Texas, she became a Bilingual teacher through an Alternative Certification program. She completed her Master’s in Bilingual Education and School Principalship at UTPA in 2005. She later became a Bilingual/ESL Strategist, Newcomer Academy Coordinator, Middle School Assistant Principal, and Bilingual/ESL Director in McAllen ISD. Karina received the Public Education Honoree Award by the Texas Association for Bilingual Education in 2016. She served in the RGV-TABE Executive Board as Secretary, President, and Parliamentarian; and in the TABE Executive Board as Secretary, Bilingual Administrator Representative, Legislative and Newsletter Chair. For about 7 years, she served as the Language Proficiency, Biliteracy and Cultural Diversity Director in Region One ESC, where she had the pleasure of working for more than 160,000 English Learners in deep South Texas. She has also served as an adjunct instructor of Testing and Measurement, Language Acquisition, and Applied Linguistics for future bilingual teachers at the Texas A&M University in Kingsville. Currently, Karina has the privilege of serving more than 1.1 million emergent bilingual students, their teachers, administrators, and families, as the Executive Director of the Texas Association for Bilingual Education. Learn more about Karina by watching on YouTube her TEDxMcAllen talk entitled “The Revolutionary Power of Bilingualism” and follow her on X @bilingualpride and @TA4BE.