Lucrecia Santibañez
Professor
Lucrecia Santibañez is a Professor at UCLA’s School of Education & Information Studies and and faculty co-director of UCLA’s Center for the Transformation of Schools. Her research has been funded by the Institutes of Education Sciences, the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the Overdeck Foundation, the Sobrato Philanthropies, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the World Bank. She is currently leading two studies of dual-language immersion programs around issues of impact, access, and inclusion. Her work has appeared in Educational Researcher, Economics of Education Review, The Journal of Human Resources, Journal of Teacher Education, Teachers College Record, American Journal of Education, and Review of Educational Research. She was named an AERA Fellow in 2025. She has been a visiting faculty at SciencesPo (Paris), and Universidad Centroamericana Jose Simeon Cañas (El Salvador). She received her Ph.D. in Education and M.A. in Economics from Stanford University and her B.A. in Economics from Tecnológico de Monterrey (Mexico).
Departments
Areas of Expertise and Advising Interests
Other Affiliations
Titles and Positions
-
Professor
-
Co-Faculty Director, Center for the Transformation of Schools
Education
- Ph.D., Education, Stanford University (specialization in Economics of Education and International and Comparative Education)
- M.A., Economics, Stanford University
- M.A., Latin American Studies, Stanford University
- B.S., Economics, Tecnológico de Monterrey. Monterrey, Mexico
Awards, Honors and Fellowships
-
American Educational Research Association (AERA) Fellow (2025)
-
Editorial Board Member at American Education Research Journal, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, International Journal of Educational Development
-
Outstanding Reviewer, American Education Research Journal (2019)
-
Outstanding Reviewer, International Journal of Educational Development (2019)
-
Outstanding Reviewer, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis (2016)
-
Member of the Technical Committee of the “ENLACE” National Standardized Student Test in Mexico (2014-2015)
- Presidential Appointment to Board of Instituto Nacional para la Evaluación de la Educación, Mexico (2011-2012)
- Member of the OECD International Steering Committee for Teacher Evaluation, Mexico (2008-2009)
RAND Silver Merit Award - Mexican Science and Technology Council (CONACyT) Award for Graduate Studies
Select Publications
- Darriet, C. and Santibañez L. (2024) “Examining Two-Way Dual Language Program Dispersion in the Context of Neighborhood Change, Charter School Expansion, and Enrollment Decline” American Journal of Education, 131 (1), pp. 55-91.
- Santibañez, L. and Saint Martin, M (2025). “Exploring the Impact of COVID-19 on District Spending for English Learners” Teachers College Record, 126(6-7), 124-156.
- Asson, S., Frankenberg, E., Darriet, C., Santibañez, L., Cervantes-Soon, C., and López, F. (2025) “Racial, Linguistic, and Economic Diversity Across Schools with Two-Way Dual Language Immersion Programs: Evidence from the Los Angeles Unified School District” AERA Open, 11.
- Santibañez, L., Gottfried, M. and Freeman, J. (2024) “Absenteeism and Student Engagement for English-Learner Classified Students.” Educational Researcher. Online July 24, 2024.
- Santibañez, L., Snyder, C., and Centeno, D. (2021) “Missed Opportunity: How Induction Policy Fails to Explicitly Address English Learner-Classified Students” Journal of Teacher Education, p. 1-16.
- Saavedra, J., Maldonado, D., Santibañez, L. and Pardo, L. O. (2022) “Premium or Penalty? Labor Market Returns to Novice Public Sector Teachers” Journal of Human Resources.
- Santibañez, L., Saavedra, J., Kattan, R.B., and Patrinos, H. (2021) “Comprehensive Private Schooling for Low-Income Children: Experimental Evidence from Mexico” International Journal of Educational Development, 87 (2021) 102494.
- Santibañez L. and Guarino, C. (2021) “The Effects of Absenteeism on Cognitive and Social-Emotional Outcomes: Lessons for COVID-19.” Educational Researcher.
- López, F. and Santibañez, L. (2018). Teacher Preparation for Emergent Bilingual Students: Implications of Evidence for Policy. Educational Policy Analysis and Archives. 26 (36).
- Santibañez, L. (2016) “The Indigenous Achievement Gap in Mexico: The Role of Teacher Policy under Intercultural Bilingual Education.” International Journal of Educational Development, 47, pp. 63-75.