María Cioè-Peña earned her PhD in the Urban Education from The Graduate Center - City University of New York, where she was also an Advance Research Collaborative fellow and a Presidential MAGNET Fellow. In 2019, María was named the first place winner for Outstanding Dissertation by the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE). She is a former elementary school teacher whose passion for children and social justice in education pushes her to fight for equity and full inclusion for children of diverse backgrounds and abilities.  With a B.A. in English and a M.S.Ed. in teaching urban students with disabilities, María’s research focuses on bilingual children with dis/abilities, their families and their ability to access multilingual learning spaces within public schools. Her interests are deeply rooted in language practices and dis/ability awareness within schools and families. María is currently an Assistant Professor and a Community Engaged Teaching Fellow at Montclair State University.

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