Mariana Castro

At the start of her career, Mariana Castro worked with students with significant disabilities and later with bilingual and multilingual students and their families in Madison schools. She also taught science, ESL and bilingual education and coordinated and supported the implementation of bilingual programs in the district. Mariana joined WIDA in 2006 to lead professional learning. Since then, she has held positions directing standards development, and research and evaluation. Some of her development projects include WIDA Standards and related initiatives for early years and K—12 in English and Spanish. As a teacher educator, Mariana served as adjunct faculty at Edgewood College and UW—Whitewater, and briefly coordinated the secondary ESL certification at UW—Madison.

Mariana has a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from the UW—Madison and a master’s degree from UW—Whitewater. She currently serves as the principal investigator for research related to the integration of language and core teaching practices; the use of innovative technology in supporting the teaching of multilingual learners; curriculum and instruction in dual language immersion programs; and the preparation of future and current teachers to help multilingual students learn and thrive in our schools. Mariana is also affiliate faculty in the Education Policy Studies Department and a developer and facilitator of The Discussion Project and Deliberation Dinners at the UW—Madison.

Mariana brings over 30 years of experience in education to her research and development work. In her research, Mariana integrates her background as an educator, her passion for working with bilingual and multilingual children, youth and their teachers, and her commitment to social justice.