Rebeccca Elias

Rebecca Elias, Past President

Rebecca Elias feels the field of bilingual education has deeply influenced her since she moved from Puerto Rico to the United States to attend college. She has spent her entire working life in that field. Ensuring high-quality bilingual programs, as well as programs in English as a new language, in the state of New York has been a passion of hers for more than 20 years. She began her career as a bilingual fifth-grade teacher in the city of Buffalo, where she gained experience developing and implementing literacy curriculum and instruction to meet the diverse needs of her students. Among the core philosophical values that have guided her approach to teaching are a belief that all children, irrespective of their background and circumstances, deserve access to authentic literature so that they can become lifelong readers and writers. Her experience extends from teaching students in a bilingual classroom setting to working as a regional resource specialist and instructional coach. Ms. Elias provides lesson demonstrations and side-by-side coaching and implementing literacy programs in bilingual and monolingual K-12 classrooms. In her many years as an educator, Ms. Elias knows that English learners achieve when given robust and highly-scaffolded learning experiences, supported in both the home and new language.