Anastasia Aimée Amabisca, Ph.D.
Director of Research and Program Development

Education
Ph.D., Education, University of California Los Angeles
M.A.Ed., Education, Stanford University
B.A.Ed., Arizona State University

tel: 562-985-7438
email: aamabisc@csulb.edu

Dr. Amabisca’s work and research have focused on the education of ethnically, linguistically, and culturally diverse students, the professional development of teachers who work with these populations, and the impact of language policy and legislation on both the teacher and student populations. She has worked on a number of research studies including a national study funded by the Andrew Mellon Foundation that examined the educational experiences of middle/high school immigrant students. She has also participated on research projects at WestEd and the American Institutes for Research (AIR) studying the impact of Proposition 227 in California.

While at the Center for the Study of Evaluation/National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CSE/NCRESST) at UCLA, Amabisca was involved with the state-wide evaluation of the California Professional Development Institutes for English Language Arts, specifically studying how these institutes addressed English Language Learner (ELL) instructional needs. Most recently at CSE, she helped design a professional development program for middle school teachers based on principles of functional linguistics and successful instructional strategies for ELLs to help students develop their academic writing skills.

Amabisca has served as a part-time lecturer in the CSULB College of Education. She has published in various educational journals, and presented at national and state conferences including the American Educational Research Association, National Association for Bilingual Education, UC Language Minority Research Institute, California Association for Bilingual Education, and Arizona Association for Bilingual Education. Anastasia was a Title VII Doctoral Fellow from 1998-2001.

Currently at CLMER, Dr. Amabisca directs the Long Beach Collaborative for English Language Learner Success (LBCELLS) project, as well as a new research study funded by the US Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (“Standards-Based Differentiated ELD Instruction to Improve English Language Arts Achievement for ELLs”).