Albert Cortez, Ph.D.
Director of Policy, Intercultural Development Research Association

Dr. Albert Cortez, director of policy at IDRA, works at the forefront of Texas policymaking. An expert on minority education policy, he has served as a technical advisor and resource authority for more than three decades of legislative action, advising such committees as the Texas Mexican American Legislative Caucus and the Senate Hispanic Caucus. Dr. Cortez advised members of both the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas Senate in the formulation of the state’s Bilingual Education Act in 1981 and was extensively involved in the development of school finance reform, dropout prevention, immigrant education, student discipline, state assessment and expanding higher education access policies.

Dr. Cortez received a doctorate in cultural foundations of education with a support area in educational administration and his master’s degree in cultural foundations of education from the University of Texas at Austin. His dissertation title was “The Politics Surrounding the Development and Passage of HB 72.” He earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology with a concentration in bilingual education from Our Lady of the Lake University.

As director of policy at IDRA, Dr. Cortez coordinates activities to support the integration and coordination of national, state and local policy reform efforts impacting the education of all students, with special emphasis on minority, low-income, limited-English-proficient and recent immigrant populations. IDRA efforts target policymakers at all levels of government, public and private educational institutions, advocacy organizations, the broader research community, the media, and individual practitioners in education and related fields. Dr. Cortez manages such activities as providing information on policy issues, training on the effective integration of research information and advocacy, and providing technical assistance in identifying policy issues and developing reform strategies.

Dr. Cortez served as research coordinator for the analysis of educational equity in the Carrollton Farmers Branch School District. As a site director for STAR Center (Support for Texas Academic Renewal), the comprehensive regional assistance center funded by the U.S. Department of Education to serve Texas (Federal Region 8), he coordinated the organization’s work with the national comprehensive centers network and coordinated activities with the STAR Center partners.

A front-runner in the research of current policy decisions and their effects on immigrant education, Dr. Cortez coordinated IDRA’s work conducted for the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Governor’s Office to study the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on public schools. Prior to this, Dr. Cortez participated in an IDRA initiative to conduct one of the first state-level studies of undocumented student enrollment in Texas public schools. This effort informed public policy debate and influenced landmark litigation such as Plyler and In Re Alien Education, resulting in improved educational opportunities for immigrant students.

In addition to research, Dr. Cortez spearheaded IDRA’s project, Creative Collaboratives: Empowering Immigrant Students and Families Through Education, through which IDRA coordinated community collaboratives in Houston and El Paso addressing the educational needs of secondary-level recent immigrant students.

Dr. Cortez worked with Dr. José A. Cárdenas to pioneer school finance reform in Texas . Having authored numerous publications on the subject, he has also served as a technical expert and advisor to attorneys in numerous school-related court cases including U.S. vs. Texas and the series of Edgewood litigation cases from 1976 to 1993. Dr. Cortez also directed IDRA’s School Finance Reform Project. In this position he conducted an extensive analysis of financial and program implications of Texas education legislation and state board policies. Instrumental in raising public awareness concerning school finance issues, Dr. Cortez led staff efforts to provide training and technical assistance on school finance reform to a variety of civic, educational and political groups, to develop and implement a statewide public awareness campaign, and to develop non-technical materials on school finance issues. He also coordinated IDRA school finance advocacy activities, including strategy development, the preparation and presentation of training materials, organization of school funding reform coalitions, and the creation and dissemination of position papers.

In 1975, when Dr. Cortez began working with IDRA, he handled the documentation and evaluation of all programmatic services provided by the organization. He also developed materials on evaluation-related topics and provided training to school administrators and teachers. In 1981, Dr. Cortez was appointed director of IDRA’s Research and Evaluation Division and served in that role until 1992. He managed planning and implementation of all research and evaluation activities undertaken by the organization. He helped direct more than 10 major research projects addressing such critical issues as adult literacy, dropouts and causal factors, immigrant education, in-grade retention, and student and school accountability. Dr. Cortez also helped establish and maintain IDRA’s extensive databases. In 1991, he was appointed associate director of the Evaluation Assistance Center – Eastern Region (EAC-East), a federally-funded project jointly operated by IDRA and The George Washington University. He has served on numerous state advisory committees related to assessment and evaluation of LEP students.

Prior to joining IDRA, Dr. Cortez was a college placement specialist with Project Stay, Inc., where he counseled high school students concerning post-secondary educational opportunities, advised students and parents about the availability of financial aid and assisted them with their applications, and educated local community groups about higher education opportunities.

Dr. Cortez received the Champion of Equity Award from the Equity Center and the Pioneer Award from the Texas Association for Bilingual Education. He is a member of the board of Directors for Multicultural Education, Training and Advocacy, chaired the Texas Advisory Group on Assessment of Limited English Proficient Pupils for the Texas Education Agency, and served on the State Advisory Committee Texas Accountable Cost of Education Study. He has served as an expert witness in numerous court cases and legislative hearings regarding equity and excellence in education.

IDRA is an independent, private non-profit organization, directed by María Robledo Montecel, Ph.D., dedicated to strengthening public schools to work for all children. As a vanguard leadership development and research team for more than three decades, IDRA has worked with people to create self-renewing schools that value and empower all children, families and communities. IDRA conducts research and development activities, creates, implements and administers innovative education programs and provides teacher, administrator, and parent training and technical assistance.

Contacting staff at IDRA: Thanks to the world of spam, we cannot post the email address of individual staff members. However, you can either call IDRA directly at 210-444-1710 or use our online form to have your message directed to the staff member you want to reach.