The Obama administration has selected Rosalinda B. Barrera, the dean of the college of education at Texas State University-San Marcos, as the assistant deputy secretary and director of the office of English-language acquisition for the U.S. Department of Education. Ms. Barrera will be the main adviser to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on matters related to the education of linguistically and culturally diverse students, according to Justin Hamilton, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Education.
Ms. Barrera has specialized in language and literacy instruction for students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. She is a co-editor of the book Multicultural Issues in Literacy Research and Practice, published in 2003 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.