Maria C. Paredes' experience teaching college students, middle school students, and adults in basic education and English as a second language during the first 12 years of her career fueled her lifelong passion — family engagement in education.

Paredes serves as a Senior Program Associate for the Comprehensive School Assistance Program (CSAP) at WestEd. She served families and the community for the Creighton Elementary School District in Arizona, first as Coordinator of Parent Programs for dual language and was later promoted to District Director of Community Education.

At the district level at Creighton, Paredes used her experience with research, curriculum, instruction, assessment, and her deep understanding of the community to create a model family engagement in education system — Academic Parent-Teacher Teams (APTT).

APTT's highly structured approach to family engagement produced remarkable results for students, parents, and teachers. The APTT system of family engagement has been recognized by the Harvard Family Research Project; the U.S. Department of Education; Arizona State University; and The National Policy Forum for Family, School, and Community Engagement.

Paredes has shifted the focus of parent engagement from a school-centered model of random events and activities to a student-centered system focused on parent-teacher partnerships to drive student learning and performance.

She has worked in partnership with the Center for the Future of Arizona, Helios Education Foundation, Flamboyan Foundation, Arizona State University, Arizona Parent and Information Resource Center, and Rio Salado College to deliver training in family engagement to principals, teachers, parent liaisons, and education agencies across Arizona and Washington, D.C.

Paredes is an ardent advocate for equity in education. She pioneered the Parent Engagement Leadership of Arizona Consortium, which provides Arizona leaders and educators with information and guidance on family engagement in education.

Additionally, Paredes spearheaded the creation of a Family Engagement Specialist Certificate, now available at Rio Salado College for school-parent liaisons.

Paredes received a Doctor of Education degree in leadership and innovation from Arizona State University. Her scholarly research in family engagement in education and her development of APTT placed her among a few Graduate College Outstanding Graduate Students of 2011.