Dr. Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan is the President of the Valley Academic Language and Education Center in Brownsville, Texas, and a Research Associate at the Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics at the University of Houston.

For over 25 years, Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan has contributed to national research projects sponsored by the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, the Institute of Education Sciences, a research arm of the U.S. Department of Education, and the Office of Special Education Programs. Her research focuses on the development of language and literacy skills among Spanish- and English-speaking students. She has collaborated with research teams to design assessments and interventions tailored to this linguistically diverse population.

Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan currently serves as Chairperson of the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities and is a member of the Professional Advisory Board for the Learning Disabilities Association of America. She is also a former Vice-Chairperson of the International Dyslexia Association.

Her contributions to the field have been recognized with several honors, including the Margaret Byrd Rawson Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Dyslexia Association, the Luke Waites Award of Service from the Academic Language Therapy Association, and the Learning Disabilities Award from the Learning Disabilities Association of America. Additionally, she is a recipient of the Bronze Telly Award for Education.

Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan currently serves on the Literacy Advisory Council for New York City Public Schools and is on Literacy Advisory Boards for the states of California, Utah and Texas.

She is the author of Literacy Foundations for English Learners: A Comprehensive Guide to Evidence-Based Instruction, a book designed to help educators implement Structured Literacy practices with English learners.