LOS ANGELES, CA, November 07, 2022 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Dr. Frances Esparza has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Supported by over 27 years of excellence as an educator, Dr. Esparza has found success as the leader serving in the role of a Superintendent and as a business owner of an educational development and intervention company. In this capacity, she has excelled as the chief executive officer and president of the organization Educators for Excellence - Kids Can't Wait since 2018. In her dual roles, she focuses her efforts of providing services to her community as an analyst and auditor for school districts that need support for English language learners and Students in Special Education programs.
Dr. Esparza is an active member of the Association of Inspector General as she has also supported compliance to the degree of becoming a "Whistleblower" on fraud and corruption in school districts. Her interest in School Finance was evident when she became completed the USC Rossier School of Business management program in 2008 and became an Alumni of the Harvard Business School in 2017. This has allowed her to create a role for herself in district finance and compliance. She now leads the LCAP & Strategic Leadership Consultants, by supporting school district leadership teams with their Local Control and Accountability Plans that are used to describe, to the State of California, what the goals, actions, services, and how LCAP expenditures are being used to support positive student outcomes.
Outside of her primary career efforts, she is also writing a series of children's books with four out of 10 planned books in progress. Notably, these books focus on her life story and her experiences while she was coming of age as an openly gay Latina in a Mexican home. She is proud of her culture and of being openly bilingual (Spanish). Her culture and language do not exist only in her as she is an openly gay Latina Leader who surrounds herself with other experienced school leaders as a member of the Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents, the California Association of Latino Superintendents and Administrators, and the Association of California School Administrators.
Prior to her present role, Dr. Esparza began her career as a bilingual teacher and, subsequently, became a teacher for Hoover Street Elementary School for 10 years. She then worked as a district-level categorical specialist for Local District South from 2004 to 2007 until becoming a Response to Instruction and Intervention (RTI) Expert for the Local District West and Local District East Los Angeles Unified School District. In 2009, she accepted a role as a district-level English learner compliance specialist for the Multilingual and Multicultural Education Department of the Los Angeles Unified School District, where she remained for three years. Shortly thereafter, she served as Secondary Principal of the Richard Alonso Community Day High School from 2012 to 2015. She was then recruited to becoming the first openly gay Latina Assistant Superintendent of Boston Public Schools from 2015 to 2017. Following this achievement, she thrived as the Superintendent for a Charter Organization in the Los Angeles Unified School District and soon became the Superintendent of the Pico Rivera-El Rancho Unified School District from 2019 to 2022. She completed her contract as a Superintendent and has thrived in the world of school business as one of the first Latina's to own a business dedicated to supporting schools.
She has broken all odds. She was once a High School dropout from the Los Angeles Unified School District. She states that there was a lack of support and role models for Latinas in the early 1980's. So, she had to work hard to get back on track and to make sure she received the education that she rightfully deserved. Prior to embarking on her professional journey, Dr. Esparza earned an Associate of Arts from East Los Angeles College and a Bachelor of Arts in international education from the University of Southern California. She then attained a Master of Science in education in 2005 and two Doctorates of Education in 2009 and one 2015, both from Pepperdine University. She subsequently gained a business alumni degree from Harvard Business School in 2017. Well qualified in her field, she has multiple subject credentials with bilingual, cross-cultural, language and academic development authorization from California State University, Los Angeles. She also earned a chief business officer certification from the school business management certification program of the University of Southern California.
During her time as the principal of the Richard Alonso High School, a highly populated school for students from the 7th grade through 12th grade (ages 11 to 22), who were incarcerated in Juvenile Detention Centers or were on probation. Dr. Esparza noticed there were many students who felt disparaged by the education system. To this end, she noted that these students often lacked self-esteem, and she decided to center her educational practices on growing these skills. After being successful with this policy, the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District used Richard Alonso Community Day High School as a model to emulate.
In recognition of her excellent work, Dr. Esparza was elected a fellow of Harvard Business School and received a Distinguished Alumni Award from Pepperdine University in 2019. She also was honored with the Golden Bell Award from the California School Boards Association for creating the best Mental Health and Social Emotional services during the worldwide pandemic. Furthermore, the State Superintendent, Tony Thurmond and the Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona visited her schools and publicly thanked her for her leadership during the worldwide pandemic and for moving her district forward with providing all students equity and access using ESSER Funding. They have both respectively acknowledged her for some of the programs she spearheaded that supported students during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Within the coming years, Dr. Esparza intends to continue to support school districts either in the capacity of a consultant or a Superintendent. She intends to continue her work as an educator and advocate for more Latina Leadership at the national level to raise the public's awareness of the importance of bilingual education.
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Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Today, Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis® now publishes many Who's Who titles, including Who's Who in America®, Who's Who in the World®, Who's Who in American Law®, Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare®, Who's Who in Science and Engineering®, and Who's Who in Asia®. Marquis® publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who® website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.
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