DLE Professor Serves on Biden-Harris Transition Education Policy Committee

San Diego State University Professor Dr. Margarita Machado-Casas was tapped by the Biden-Harris presidential transition team to help develop policy recommendations for advancing equity in the education workforce.

Machado-Casas, chair of SDSU’s Department of Dual Language and English Learner Education, served on the Diversity Education Workforce subcommittee of the Biden-Harris National Education Policy Committee. The subcommittee developed recommendations for recruiting and retaining teachers, school administrators and professors of color, as well as the establishment of a national research diversity education center.

“It was just an honor for me to serve and to be able to contribute ideas that will help shape the new administration,” Machado-Casas said. “It was a select group of education leaders from across the United States, and it’s exciting to be in the presence of so many people I admire within the field of education policy.” 

The group also was tasked with making recommendations for the first 100 days of the Biden Administration. President Joe Biden implemented two of those recommendations — reinstating the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration policy and reversing restrictions on diversity training in federal agencies — via executive order on his first day in office. 

Machado-Casas said she is encouraged by the actions on social justice, diversity and education taken by the administration thus far. 

“We know the first lady (Dr. Jill Biden) herself is an educator, which I think makes a big difference in how this administration is going to approach educational policy,” she said. “So, I'm very hopeful.”