Lizabeth Garza-Garcia

Dr. Lizabeth Garza-García is the Director of Secondary Multilingual Programs in Fort Worth ISD, where she leads districtwide initiatives designed to accelerate language acquisition, strengthen academic outcomes, and expand access to equitable educational opportunities for emergent bilingual students. Under her leadership, Fort Worth ISD successfully expanded newcomer services, allowing students to remain at their home schools.

Her career began as a bilingual teacher and instructional coa

ch, experiences that grounded her commitment to language equity, culturally responsive pedagogy, and educator capacity-building. Across each stage of her professional journey, Dr. Garza-García has championed dual language education as both an academic and social justice imperative—an approach she continues to advance through district leadership, professional development, and statewide advocacy.

Dr. Garza-García also serves on the Board of Directors for the Bilingual/ESL Association of the Metroplex (BEAM), where she has played a key role in strengthening systems of support for bilingual educators and families. Her leadership within BEAM focuses on fostering collaboration among affiliates, advancing research-based instructional practices, and amplifying the collective voice of bilingual education advocates across Texas.

Since earning her doctorate, Dr. Garza-García has also founded Mujeres with Doctorates, a nonprofit organization dedicated to elevating women of color through the dissertation phase of their doctoral journey. The organization was born out of her own experience navigating the challenges and isolation of completing her doctorate without sufficient support or mentorship. Today, Mujeres with Doctorates provides a community of guidance, accountability, and empowerment for women scholars pursuing terminal degrees, helping them persist and thrive in academic spaces where their voices are often underrepresented.

Her scholarly work, including her dissertation “Bilingual Teachers’ Perceptions of Evaluator Feedback of Spanish Content Instruction” (Texas A&M University–Commerce, 2021), examines the intersection of teacher feedback, bilingual pedagogy, and evaluation systems. She is currently transforming this research into both a peer-reviewed article and a practitioner-focused book titled Leading with Lenguaje: Transforming Dual Language Campuses through Equity-Centered Leadership, accompanied by a reflection guide for educators and leaders.

Dr. Garza-García’s leadership continues to be guided by the belief that language is power, identity, and belonging—and that schools are at their best when they honor every student’s full linguistic and cultural self.