About Efraín Tovar

Efraín (eh-frah-EEN) Tovar is a Texas native raised in Kingsburg, California, and a passionate advocate for plurilingual and pluricultural learners. He serves as the English Language Development (ELD) Department Chair in Selma Unified School District, where he teaches 7th–8th grade Newcomers and Long-Term English Learners (LTELs). With more than 30 years of experience spanning elementary through university settings, Tovar is widely recognized for leveraging innovation and technology to advance linguistic equity and student empowerment.

He is the founder of the California Newcomer Network (CANN), an organization connecting and supporting educators who serve newcomer and multilingual students across California and beyond. Through CANN, Tovar advocates for stronger systems and practices that recognize the linguistic and educational assets newcomer students bring to their schools.

Tovar is a highly sought-after speaker at local, state, national, and international conferences, where he shares practical strategies for addressing the linguistic and digital needs of multilingual learners and their families. He is a Google for Education Certified Innovator and Trainer and was selected as one of two U.S. educators to participate in the Google for Education Certified Innovator Program in Mexico City in 2016. He was also chosen among thirty educators worldwide to participate in Stanford University’s d.School summer institute for design thinking, where he strengthened his work in human-centered design and innovative problem-solving in education.

In addition, Tovar serves as a MetaMetrics Lexile & Quantile Educator Ambassador, supporting the effective use of literacy and measurement frameworks to improve learner outcomes. His classroom and instructional practices have been featured by Edutopia, and his innovative work with newcomer students was highlighted on PBS KVIE’s Inside California Education.

Beyond the classroom, Tovar has taken on a series of influential roles in California statewide initiatives. In 2021, he was selected to participate in the Californians Together English Learner Leadership & Legacy Initiative (ELLLI), a competitive statewide leadership institute preparing educators to advance advocacy, leadership, and policy for English learners. In 2022, he was appointed to California’s SB 488 Literacy Workgroup for the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, supporting statewide efforts to strengthen literacy instruction and educator preparation. In 2023, he was named to the California Department of Education Superintendent’s first-ever Parent Advisory Council, helping elevate family voice and engagement in state-level educational priorities. In 2025, Tovar was invited to join the SB 1288 Statewide Artificial Intelligence Workgroup, a cross-sector collaborative focused on the safe and equitable use of artificial intelligence in California schools. In 2026, the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing enlisted him to serve on its Administrative Services Credential (ASC) Workgroup, advancing statewide standards for administrator preparation and credentialing.

Tovar’s contributions have earned him recognition as a three-time Teacher of the Year, with honors from Selma Unified School District, the Association of Mexican American Educators (AMAE), and CALIE — the California Association for Leading Innovation in Education, formerly known as CUE. These distinctions reflect his sustained commitment to equity and excellence in teaching and learning.

Through his teaching, leadership, and statewide advocacy, Tovar continues to champion educational systems that recognize multilingualism as an asset, elevate the voices of students and families, empower educators, and prepare learners to thrive in an increasingly diverse and rapidly changing world.