Dr. Erica Silva
Dr. Erica Silva leads culturally responsive professional development opportunities for educators committed to equity in their classrooms and communities.
Her expertise includes culturally relevant/responsive/sustaining pedagogy, Latinx school board leadership and representation, and implementing equity-minded teaching practices in K12 schools.
In her full-time role, Dr. Erica Silva is the Associate Director for K12 Professional Learning Programs at the USC Race and Equity Center. Erica coordinates and leads professional development with schools and districts across the country to advance racial equity within their organizations. In addition to her work at the Center, Erica is also an adjunct professor at the USC Rossier School of Education where she teaches pre-service teachers courses on equity and blended learning instructional technology.
Erica is a proud double Trojan and earned her doctorate in Educational Leadership from the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California. Her dissertation focused on the intersection of policy, political science, education and Latino representation on school boards across California. Erica graduated cum laude from USC with a bachelor's degree in Political Science and also holds a master's degree in Urban Education, Policy and Administration from LMU.
Erica discovered her passion for education working with college and high school students through the Norman Topping Student Aid Fund at USC, which led her to begin her career in education as a 6th grade teacher.
Erica is passionate about racial equity, empowering communities through education, and increasing the representation of people of color in leadership positions.
Teaching and Leadership Experience
Prior to joining the USC Race and Equity Center, Erica led a team of teachers in partnership with the Cotsen Foundation. For two years, Erica worked alongside her team learning and implementing effective teacher practices through professional development and mentorship in Readers Workshop, Writers Workshop, and Cognitively Guided Math Instruction. Prior to her work with the Cotsen Foundation, Dr. Erica Silva worked as an Instructional Specialist, where she trained and worked with teachers district-wide on curriculum, assessment development and technology integration.
Dr. Silva has experience working in both the public and charter school systems in Southern California. Having taught at both elementary and middle school levels, Erica has firsthand knowledge of the strengths and challenges that our education system faces today.
Erica is currently an adjunct faculty member at the USC Rossier School of Education in the Master of Arts in Teaching program. She is a member of the Education Trust West's Educator Advisory Council and is a board member of Penguin Random House Education's K-12 DE&I Advisory Board.
