Terriquez received a Ph.D. in sociology from UCLA. Her research focuses on educational inequality, immigrant integration and organized labor. Her work is linked to education justice and immigrant rights organizing efforts in Los Angeles. Terriquez has also worked as a community organizer on school reform and other grassroots campaigns.
Terriquez is currently working on a study of parental engagement in Los Angeles County. Drawing on survey and semi-structured interview data, she seeks to understand how individual parents acquire the confidence, cultural capital and problem-solving skills to actively participate in school affairs. She is particularly interested in examining how labor and community organizations support various forms of school-based civic participation among Latino immigrants and other racially diverse parents.
Terriquez is also the principal investigator of the California Young Adult Study, a mixed-methods investigation of youths’ access to post-secondary education, employment and civic engagement opportunities.
