Dr. Brenda Calderon was most recently the Chief of Staff for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education where she led a $27 billion portfolio for PreK-12 education and 300 employees. She previously served as Senior Advisor, where she led the Department’s policy agenda on innovative assessment systems.

Before joining the Department, she was the Senior Director for Policy at New Leaders. In her first tour at the Department, she oversaw millions of dollars in state grants to support schools with low-income students, support services for English learners and improve teacher professional development. Firmly committed to equity in education, she began her career in policy advocacy as a Senior Education Policy Analyst at Unidos U.S., formerly known as National Council of La Raza where she served as the lead negotiator for the organization during the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, now the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015.

She is a former English learner, ESL teacher, and was the first person in her family to attend college. She holds a BA in political science from University of California, Los Angeles, MA in education from Loyola Marymount University, and a PhD in education policy from George Mason University.