Ms. Cisneros most recently served as Director of Member Practice at Public Education Network (PEN). In this position, she led strategies for improving the capacity of member local education funds across the country to affect policy change, engage the public, and ensure that all children, especially underserved populations, graduate ready for college and career.

Prior to her work at PEN, Ms. Cisneros was a Principal Research Analyst at the American Institutes for Research (AIR). Her projects at AIR involved leading state technical assistance support and implementation for college and career readiness including as Director of Stakeholder Engagement for the National High School Center. Before joining AIR, Ms. Cisneros worked as a Senior Research Associate at the Education and Development Center. Her primary responsibilities were to evaluate school district math and science program quality and the role of teacher leaders, and to provide technical assistance to urban school districts on administrative leadership practices.

Through Ms. Cisneros’ work at the U.S. Department of Education, including as a Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education, she managed and provided oversight of several formula and discretionary grant school improvement programs. Ms. Cisneros also has in-depth experience providing technical assistance to state and district educators on the successful implementation of national education laws. Before her appointment at the Department, Ms. Cisneros worked for Congressman Leon Panetta as a Senior Legislative Aide handling education issues, among others.

Ms. Cisneros received her BA in political science and economics from the University of California, Berkeley and holds a MPA from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.