An interest in educational linguistics led him to earn his Ph.D. from the Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California.
Dr. Kip Tellez is a Professor in the Education Department at UC Santa Cruz where he served as Chair from 2007 to 2014. He is the current editor of Teacher Education Quarterly. Dr. Tellez is also a fellow of Stevenson and Crown colleges, as well as participating faculty in Latin American and Latino Studies. Prior to UCSC, Dr. Tellez taught elementary and high school in East Los Angeles country. His instructional focus has always been on Teaching English Language Learners. After graduate school, he began his first academic position at the University of Houston, where he taught courses on methods and theories of second language education and teacher education and policy while also working to initiate three two-way dual immersion programs in the Houston Galveston area.
Dr. Tellez’s research interests include teacher education, second language instruction, equity pedagogy, and contemporary research methods. Arriving at UCSC in the summer of 2000, he has continued his research on language teaching and learning, while also teaching the English Learning Development courses in the Masters/Credential program.
He has published articles in journals such as the "Journal of Teacher Education", "Teaching and Teacher Education", and "The Bilingual Research Journal". He also published an edited book (with Hersh Waxman) in 2006 titled, Preparing Quality Educators for English Language Learners.