Maria del Rosario Zavala

Maria del Rosario Zavala is an American-born daughter of Peruvian immigrants and a Professor of Elementary Education at San Francisco State University, where she teaches mathematics and bilingual education courses and serves as chair of the Elementary Education Department. She holds a PhD in Education with a focus on Learning Sciences from the University of Washington and previously studied mathematics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her teaching and research center on equity in mathematics education for Latinx and other historically marginalized populations, with particular attention to identity development, ethnomathematics, social justice mathematics, and culturally responsive mathematics teaching.

Zavala is coauthor of Cultivating Mathematical Hearts: Culturally Responsive Mathematics Teaching in Elementary Classrooms (Corwin Mathematics Series), with Julia Maria Aguirre, and Early Elementary Mathematics Lessons to Explore, Understand, and Respond to Social Injustice (Corwin Mathematics Series), with Courtney Koestler, Jennifer Ward, and Tonya Bartell. Over more than two decades in education, she has worked across the K–12 spectrum and led professional learning for teachers, particularly in Spanish–English bilingual programs and mathematics education focused on equity and social transformation.