Maria Zavala

Dr. Zavala joined the faculty at SFSU after completing her PhD in Mathematics Education with a focus on the Learning Sciences at the University of Washington Seattle. Her dissertation focused on the mathematics identity development of Latino/a students and is titled Race, Language, and Opportunities to Learn: The Mathematics Identity Negotiation of Latino/a Youth.  Many years prior she earned a BA in Mathematics from University of California Santa Cruz.

Dr. Zavala brings a variety of teaching experiences in mathematics and literacy from across the K-college pipeline to her work. She has been working in teacher education as an instructor and leader of professional development for a number of years.  Her research focuses on equity issues in the mathematics education of Latino/as and other historically marginalized populations by focusing on identity develop and culturally responsive practices. Her newest research project is Culturally Responsive Practices of Bilingual Pre-service Teachers: Lessons from a Teacher Education Program focused on Education for Social Transformations, and is in collaboration with other BEST faculty.

• Latina/o Youth's Perspectives on Race, Language, and Learning Mathematics. Maria del Rosario Zavala (2014).Journal of Urban Mathematics Education, vol 7 no 1 

• Developing Robust Forms of Pre-Service Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge through Culturally Responsive Mathematics Teaching Analysis. Julia M. Aguirre, Maria del Rosario Zavala & Tiffany Katanyoutanant (2012), Mathematics Teacher Education and Development, v14, Special Issue on Pedagogical Content Knowledge.

• Making Culturally Responsive Mathematics Teaching Explicit: A Lesson Analysis Tool. Julia M. Aguirre & Maria del Rosario Zavala (2012), Pedagogies, v8 issue2. And read our chapter in  Rethinking Mathematics, 2nd Edition.