Elenita Irizarry-Ramos is a Senior Strategist for Multilingual Learning and Dual Language Education with SchoolWorks.
She has over a decade of experience teaching language learners in multilingual environments. She is a proud first-generation college graduate who served as a Visiting Scholar at Indiana University-Bloomington, an Assistant Professor at the University of Puerto Rico–Rio Piedras, and a Lecturer at UMass Amherst’s Bilingual and Dual Language Education Graduate Certificate.
Before joining Schoolworks, she was the WMass Bilingual Hub Coordinator, assisting 12% of public Dual Language Schools in Massachusetts. Her research includes documenting Puerto Rican English teachers’ perception of resilience in the aftermath of Hurricane María and documenting trauma-informed teaching practices in post-pandemic education.
She is committed to ensuring equitable and inclusive Bilingual Education and Dual Language programs.
Elenita began her career teaching High School English Language Arts in English immersion schools in Puerto Rico. In addition to working as an Educator, and public speaker, she has been a consultant for College Board, where she collaborated on several projects in Puerto Rico and Latin America. She was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at UMASS-Amherst and holds a Doctoral degree in curriculum in teaching from the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras, a Master’s degree in English Education, and a Bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez.
