Dr. Rafael Lara-Alecio is a System Regents professor at Texas A&M University where he has been a faculty member since 1991. He earned his doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Utah. Previously he was a math teacher, professor, and university president in his home country of Guatemala.

Dr. Lara-Alecio has made many contributions to the field of bilingual education, including his influential Four-Dimensional Bilingual Pedagogical Theory and Model designed for bilingual classrooms. This theory and the accompanying low-inference classroom observation instrument have been validated in
dual language, transitional bilingual, and English as a second language (ESL) classrooms with English language learners (ELLs).The validation of the theory makes his work different from other theories and associated research. Additionally, as principal investigator (PI), he led a longitudinal randomized
controlled trial study investigating the differences between transitional bilingual education and structured English immersion[151]one of only three such projects conducted in the U.S. His research also includes virtual classroom observations, teacher professional development, and mentoring and coaching.Dr. Lara-Alecio has author and/or co-authored over 125 refereed publications. In external funding, he has secured over $88,000,000.00 through federal and state agencies including the Institute of Educational Sciences (IES), National Science Foundation (NSF), The Office of English and Literacy Acquisition (OELA), Office of Investing in Innovation (i3) in the U.S. Department of Education and the Texas Education Agency (TEA). Prior to his large-scale projects, major research in bilingual education largely consisted of work with archived data, small quasi-experimental studies, or from theoretical venues. He helped to catapult major research agendas in bilingual education toward larger longitudinal randomized controlled trial studies.Maintaining his commitment to Texas A&M University as a land-grant institution, Dr. Lara-Alecio has assisted the State of Texas in the training and certification of in-service bilingual and ESL educators over the past 27 years. Dr. Lara-Alecio has been a faculty member in Texas A&M’s School of Education and Human Development since 1991. Widely considered an expert in bilingual education, he was honored in 2010 by the Texas Association of Bilingual Education. He has received numerous awards from the university, including the Outstanding Faculty Mentoring Award; Distinguished Achievement Award by The
Association of Former Students; and a Diversity Award presented by the Offices of the Provost and Executive Vice President and Dean of Faculties and Associate Provost.