Frances Guzmán, M.Ed.
Education Associate, Intercultural Development Research Association

Frances M. Guzmán, M.Ed., is an IDRA education associate. She has four decades of experience in the field of education. She has training, technical assistance and materials development responsibilities primarily for specific IDRA projects, including the Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program and Pathways.

Ms. Guzmán has completed all coursework and qualifying exams for a doctorate in curriculum and instruction and educational administration from the University of Texas at Austin. She has a master’s of education degree in elementary education from the University of Texas at Austin and a bachelor’s degree in history and Spanish with a minor in secondary education from Pan American Universit Ms. Guzmán’s professional certification includes elementary, secondary education, mid-management and supervision and bilingual/ ESL.

At IDRA, Ms. Guzmán was responsible for all of the early childhood activities for the IDRA Texas PIRC. Ms. Guzmán also provides parent leadership training to the public schools in Texas. She currently serves on the advisory boards and taskforce committees of the Texas state and local HIPPY program sites, Voices for Children, the National Parenting Education Network, and the City of San Antonio Head Start Policy Council and Education Committee. She coordinates the Annual IDRA La Semana del Niño Parent and Administrator Institutes. She is an active member and elected official of many professional, community and social advocacy organizations at the local and state levels.

Ms. Guzmán’s professional experience includes teaching at the pre-kindergarten, primary, secondary and college levels; serving as the director of professional development for a major metropolitan school district in Texas; working in administration, supervision and evaluation of elementary campuses and districtwide Title VII programs; and research and curriculum development for IDRA, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Scott Foreman and DDL book publishers.

 At IDRA, she leads staff development to parents, school board members, paraprofessionals, administrators, classroom teachers, students and community leaders. Examples of topics include: dealing with student self-esteem, dropout prevention, parent engagement and leadership, equity, minority students’ rights, and bilingual and English as a second language (ESL) education.

Ms. Guzmán has coordinated service delivery activities in the area of gender equity to school systems in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas for the IDRA South Central Collaborative for Equity. In this work with IDRA’s equity assistance center, Ms. Guzmán provides training and technical assistance to overcome gender bias in curriculum materials, reduce gender and sexual harassment and discrimination in schools, and to expand career options for girls and boys beyond traditional roles. She coordinated the W.K. Kellogg Foundation-funded, IDRA project, Family Leaders Engaged in Children’s Academic Success (FLEChAS)

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.

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