“I feel incredibly blessed for having been selected as the new Executive Director for the Texas Association for Bilingual Education. Texas schools serve more than one million emergent bilingual students in a variety of language programs and it is my honor to be at their service in this new role, providing the support their bilingual teachers, instructional leaders, and school staff need to ensure the cognitive, linguistic, affective, and sociocultural development of every bilingual child. I truly believe that together we can exalt the positive impact that bilingualism, biliteracy, and biculturalism have in our society and the crucial role that school systems play in these efforts. Together, we can elevate and empower our bilingual learners and their families, recognizing them as invaluable assets of our communities, so together we can strengthen los lazos que nos unen in the name of equity. Sin lugar a dudas, ser bilingüe, biletrado y bicultural, no solo es una ventaja competitiva en este mundo globalizado, en donde las fronteras se disipan al simple toque de una tecla, sino que es un derecho humano y un tesoro que debemos proteger, elevar y multiplicar en todo momento y en todo lugar. ¡Gracias TABE por la maravillosa oportunidad de servir a nuestra hermosa comunidad de educadores bilingües de Texas! ¡Sigamos revolucionando el mundo por medio de la educación bilingüe!”

Introducing TABE's Executive Director, Karina Chapa

Born and raised in Monterrey, Mexico, Karina completed her Bachelor’s in International Relations from el Tecnológico de Monterrey. After moving to Texas, she became an Elementary Bilingual teacher through an alternative certification program. She completed her Master’s in Bilingual Education and School Principalship at the University of Texas Pan American in 2005. She later became a Bilingual/ESL Strategist, Newcomer Academy Coordinator, Middle School Assistant Principal, and Bilingual/ESL Director in McAllen ISD for almost 6 years. Karina received the Public Education Honoree Award by the Texas Association for Bilingual Education in 2016, recognizing her role in the transformation of her district’s transitional bilingual program into a dual language program in 20 elementary campuses. She has served in both the RGV-TABE and TABE executive boards playing several roles, including RGV-TABE’s secretary, parliamentarian, and president, as well as TABE’s secretary, legislative chair, Bilingual/ESL representative, and newsletter chair. Karina has served as the Language Proficiency, Biliteracy and Cultural Diversity Director in Region One ESC for the past six and a half years, where she has had the pleasure of working for more than 160,000 Emergent Bilingual students and their families in the south Texas border. She has also served as an adjunct professor of Testing and Measurement, Language Acquisition, and Applied Linguistics for future bilingual teachers at the Texas A&M University in Kingsville. Karina delivered her first TEDxMcAllen talk in November of 2019 entitled “The Revolutionary Power of Bilingualism”. You can follow Karina on Twitter @bilingualpride and TABE @TA4BE. CONTACT INFORMATION Karina E. Chapa, M.Ed.Executive DirectorTexas Association for Bilingual EducationPO BOX 37130San Antonio, TX 78237 Ph. (210) 979-6390kchapa@tabe.org