Dr. Orozco migrated from Mexico in 1994 as a 10th grader and went to Montebello High School. She completed all of her higher education degrees at Cal State LA – a B.A. and an M.A. in Child Development, a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from the CCOE. She is a Golden Eagle through and through.
Dr. Orozco has been in the education field for approximately 20 years. She started as Teacher’s Assistant when she was a community college student, which inspired her to change her career path from pre-med to elementary school teacher. She has since then taught preschool, second, and sixth grade. She has always had great interest in guiding children and adults in the process of learning in general but has always had a special inclination towards mathematics.
Besides being a full-time teacher, Dr. Orozco also spent many years supporting community organizations that have an education focus. She was an organizer and program director at CADRE (Community Asset Development Re-defining Education) where she helped develop the Educational Empowerment Academy – a program that helps parents become strong educational advocates for their children and their communities. In addition, Dr. Orozco spent 15 summers as a Supplemental Instruction Leader and a Math Instruction in our own Summer Bridge Program that is funded and coordinated by the Educational Opportunity Program.
Dr. Orozco completed our Ed.D. Program in 2017 where she focused her research on technology integration in math classrooms. She hopes to be able to continue to document high school students’ experience in math classrooms and their transition to college, especially for students with histories of repeated math failure. She also hopes to highlight some of the amazing work our Summer Bridge Program does in the math component and investigate the impact that this experience has on instructors who go on to become teachers. She is currently conducting research on the mathematics identities of pre-service teachers.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Teacher Education
- Directed Teaching Supervision
- Curriculum and Teaching of Elementary Mathematics
- Special Instructional Methods in Secondary Mathematics
- Advanced Secondary Instructional & Management Strategies
- Integrated STEM Project-Based Learning in Urban Environments
- Psychological Foundations of Education
- Introduction to Foundations of Urban Learning
- Education Foundations of Schooling in a Diverse Society
- Contemporary Issues in Knowledge, Culture and Learning
Mathematics
- Introduction to Statistics and Data Interpretation
- Elementary Algebra
- Intermediate Algebra
- 6th Grade Math and Science
- Math Honors Club, Founder and Advisor (middle school)
Books
Raj, A.G., Orozco, S. (Eds.). (2024). Storying Leadership for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: Reconceiving research dynamics. Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9781003434634.
Journal Articles
Orozco, S. and Razfar, A. (2024). Math Identity and Cultural Historical Theory: Storying the math trajectories of pre-service teachers in urban settings. Outlines, Critical Practice Studies, 26, 57-77 DOI: https://doi.org/10.7146/ocps.v26i.148598.
Coreas, B, Coreas, J., Fujimoto, E., Ochoa, E., Ochoa, G., Oropeza-Fujimoto, M., Orozco, S. (2020). ¡Juntos Podemos! Community Organizing and the Struggle for School Transformation in a Southern California School District. Journal of Latinos and Education https://doi.org/10.1080/15348431.2020.1828088.
Orozco, S. (2020). Interrogating College of Education Mandates from the Margins: Realizations from a Shift in Perspective. Issues in Teacher Education, 29(1-2), 45–53.
Book Chapters
Raj, A., Andre-Bechely, L., Orozco, S. (2024). A Framework for Storying Leadership: A conversation between colleagues. In Storying Leadership for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: Reconceiving research dynamics, (pp. 16-27). Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9781003434634.
Orozco, S. (2024). Teaching and Researching with Storying: An epistemic quest. In Storying Leadership for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: Reconceiving research dynamics (pp. 245-253). Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9781003434634.
Ochoa, G., Ochoa, E., Oropeza-Fujimoto, M., Orozco, S., Coreas, J., Fujimoto, E., Maldonado, M., Miranda, Cordero, V. (2022). “Hijacking a Public Process” The School District and Community Activists in the Battle for Trustee Area Representation. In Rodela, K. & Bertrand, M. (Eds.) Centering Youth, Family, and Community in School Leadership: Case studies for educational equity and justice. Routledge.https://www.routledge.com/Centering-Youth-Family-and-Community-in-School-Leadership-Case-Studies-for-Educational-Equity-and-Justice/Rodela-Bertrand/p/book/9781032026428?srsltid=AfmBOopadvaQiV96w8uEqS5O0b1OhY5F-LhbuD34VX7yK6cmDq9Utf-V
Orozco, S. (2022). Math Anxiety in Math Methods Courses: Self-exploration tools for healing during remote learning. In Raj, A. (Ed.) Creativity as Progressive Pedagogy: Examinations into Culture, Performance, and Challenges (296-315). Hershey, Pennsylvania: IGI Global. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-8287-9.ch014
Conference Presentations
Orozco, S., Razfar, A. (2024). Math Identity and Cultural Historical Activity Theory: Storying the math trajectories of pre-service teachers in urban settings. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting. Philadelphia, PA.
Orozco, S., Ramirez, A. (2023). Intersections of Mathematics Identity and Teacher Identity: Cultural processes and outcomes identified during teacher preparation. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Annual Research Meeting. Washington, DC.
Zambrano, A., Cervantes, A., Orozco, S. (2023). Recruitment and Retention of Urban Teacher Preparation: Supporting communities of practice across systems. Fall 2023 Conference of the California Council on Teacher Education. San Diego, CA.
Orozco, S. (2023). Disrupting Perceptions of Underprepared College-going Latinx Students: Lessons from a Technology-integrated Mathematics Classroom. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting. Chicago, IL.
Gonzalez, V., Cervantes, A., Orozco, S., Tejeda, C., A. Monrreal, C., Perez, N., Lopez, A. (2023). La Visión Pilot Program: A Justice-centered Bilingual Pathway for Undergraduate Students in an Integrated Teacher Education Program. National Association of Bilingual Education 52nd Annual International Meeting. Portland, OR.
Orozco, S. Osipova, A. Mahr, M. (2023). Collective Reflections on Anti-racist Teaching and Spaces. Conference of the California Chapter of the National Association for Multicultural Education (CA-NAME). Los Angeles, CA.
Orozco, S., Ramirez, A. (2022). Connections Between Mathematics Identity and Teacher Identity: Pre-service teachers’ accounts of meaningful lived experiences in learning and teaching mathematics. Fall 2022 Conference of the California Council on Teacher Education. San Diego, CA.
Orozco, S.; Muñoz-O’Laughlin, J. (2022). “Aligning the Change We Want, with the Change We Need”: Reflections from a developmental math program. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Annual Meeting and Exposition. Los Angeles, CA.
Orozco, S. (2022). Mentor Me! Building nurturing relationships among teacher educators. CA STEAM Symposium. Anaheim, CA.
Orozco, S.; Raj, A. (2022). Nurturing Our Math Identities Through Storytelling. CAAEYC 2022 Annual Conference. Pasadena, CA.
Orozco, S. (2021). Creative Uses of Cognitive Strategies for Clearing Math Anxiety in Preservice Teachers. CA STEAM Symposium. Virtual.
Orozco, S. Technology Integration to Infuse College-going Skills: Supporting Students with Histories of Academic Struggles (2021). Poster presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting. Virtual.
Restrepo-Nazar, C.; Orozco, S.; Marsh, J. (2021). Preservice Teachers' Development of Community Cultural Wealth in Science, Mathematics, and Literacy Education During COVID-19. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting. Virtual.
Restrepo-Nazar, C.; Orozco, S. (2021). Preservice Teachers' Unpacking Community Cultural Wealth with 5th Graders Learning about the COVID-19. NARST Annual International Conference. Virtual.
Restrepo-Nazar, C.; Orozco, S.; Marsh, J. (2021). Towards a STEM-Community Cultural Wealth approach to Scientific Literacy Development in Preservice Teachers’ Learning to Teach. Science Educators for Equity Diversity and Social Justice (SEEDS). Annual Meeting. Virtual.
Coreas, B.; Coreas, J.; Oropeza-Fujimoto, E.; Oropeza-Fujimoto, M.; Orozco, S. (2020). ¡Juntos Podemos!/Together We Can! Community Organizing and the Struggle for School Transformation in a Southern California School District. 10th International Conference on Education & Social Justice. Virtual.
Restrepo-Nazar, C.; Orozco, S. (2020). Teaching to Learn: Learning about Community Literacy with STEAM. CA STEM Symposium. Virtual.
Support for Math Teachers and Teacher Educators
Math and Science Teacher Initiative and Teacher Recruitment Project
DREME - Development and Research for Early Math Educators
Community-based Projects: Family Math Nigh at Local Elementary Schools