• Gabriela Uro is the Director for English Language Learner Policy and Research for the Council of the Great City Schools, where she is responsible for all matters pertaining to  English Language Learners (ELLs). As part of the legislative team, she works on legislative matters relevant to ELLs, both with Capitol Hill and the Administration. She is the lead for Strategic Support Teams reviewing ELL programs in Council districts, and providing technical assistance, as needed. She is the Council's lead for ELL issues related to the implementation of the Common Core or new state standards in member districts.
     
    Gabriela has led or co-authored a number or publications including A Framework for Raising Expectations and Instructional Rigor for English Language Learners, the comprehensive report on English Language Learners in America’s Great City Schools, and Succeeding with English Language Learners--an influential study that revealed systemic factors contributing to improving ELL achievement in large urban districts. She oversees several grant-funded projects focused on improving instructional rigor for ELLs, totaling close to $1.5 million.

    Prior to joining the Council in 1997, Gabriela served as the Policy Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Director of the Office of Bilingual Education (now English Acquisition) in the U.S. Department of Education and was part of the Department’s Team for the 1994 ESEA Reauthorization.  She joined the Clinton Administration in 1994 and prior to working at the federal level was an education budget analyst for the California State Legislature Budget Committee and the Chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles.  Gabriela received her M.P.A. from Columbia University with a specialization in Education Policy and her B.A. degree from the University of California, Irvine (magma cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa). She has extensive experience living abroad in Mexico, Spain, Italy and Portugal.