Dr. Pascual Yacovodonato (a.k.a. Dr. Y) is a senior education consultant who specializes in building capacity for educators who serve Emergent Bilinguals (EBs) in different educational settings. He has developed such strength in over 25 years of successful teaching and administration experience with EBs in public and private schools.
Dr. Y’s roles in education have included experience as bilingual education and dual language teacher, high school math and Spanish teacher, bilingual reading interventionist, education specialist in the areas of special education and EBs, high school CBI and foreign language coordinator, and administrator at the central office level as Director of the Multilingual Department. He is a former adjunct professor of bilingual education at Houston Baptist University, Sam Houston State University, and University of Texas at Brownsville.
Because of his dynamic and engaging presentation style, and the relevant topics presented, Dr. Y’s workshops have been attended by literally thousands of educators at the local and state level. He has presented on a variety of topics including cross-linguistic connection in dual language programs, Spanish language components and attributes, instructional approaches for developing biliteracy for Latino and other EBs, effective methods of coaching teachers of EBs, and developing an interdisciplinary curriculum for dual language programs.
As an Education Specialist at Region 4 Education Service Center (ESC) in Houston, Dr. Y co-authored multiple resources including Accelerated Spanish Reading Curriculum for Struggling ELs, Teaching your Secondary English Learners the Academic Language of Tests, and Designing Effective Literacy Centers for Kindergarten, First, and Second-grade Classrooms (Spanish Edition).
Dr. Y’s numerous honors and awards include, 2014 President of the Houston Area Association for Bilingual Education (HAABE), 2013-2014 Research Paper Reviewer for the Bilingual Research Journal, 2011-2014 Member of the School of Education Advisory Council for Houston Baptist University, 2011 Educational Leadership International Doctoral Scholarship at Sam Houston State University, 2001 Katy Independent School District Teacher of the Year, 2001 Recipient of The State of Texas House of Representatives Teacher Excellence Proclamation, 2001 Houston West Chamber of Commerce Christa McAuliffe in Search of Excellence Award, and 2000 Excellence in Education Award from City of Houston Mayor, Dr. Lee Brown.
Dr. Y earned a Doctorate’s Degree in Educational Leadership from Sam Houston State University, a Master of Education in Bilingual Education and Second Language Acquisition from Houston Baptist University, and a Bachelor of Science’s Degree in Computer Science from the Central University of Venezuela. Dr. Y speaks fluent English, Spanish, and Italian.