Rate My Professor Cynthia Martinez-Garcia

Cynthia Martinez-Garcia is a Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at Sam Houston State University, where she has served since 2008. Initially appointed as an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership, she advanced to Associate Professor in 2014 and to full Professor thereafter. She has undertaken key administrative responsibilities, including Assistant Chair of the Department from 2015 to 2017, Coordinator and Advisor for the Master of Education in Administration program since 2013, and Coordinator for the Principal Certification Program since 2013. Martinez-Garcia possesses professional certifications as a Superintendent (2004), Classroom Teacher (Bilingual, 2002), Mid-Management (2000), and Texas Teacher (1998). Her academic background includes an Ed.D. from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi in 2007, an M.Ed. from the same institution in 1999, and a B.S. in 1998.

Martinez-Garcia's research focuses on student success, educators, school leaders, academic achievement disparities, school discipline, and teacher workforce issues. She has co-authored numerous peer-reviewed articles, such as "Differences in dropout rates as a function of high school size for students in poverty: A Texas multiyear, statewide study" (Ambrose et al., 2017, School Leadership Review), "Differences in academic performance by school district size for students in special education: A multiyear, statewide investigation" (Barnes et al., 2017, Global Journal of Human-Social Science), "Grade Span Configuration and Academic Performance for Students in Poverty: A Texas Multiyear Analysis" (Jones et al., 2017, School Leadership Review), "Disciplinary consequence assignment differences by degree of economic disadvantage: A Texas statewide investigation" (Barnes et al., 2017, International Journal of Modern Education Research), and "Career experiences of Latino/a secondary principals in suburban school districts" (Fernandez et al., 2015, International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation). Recent publications include "Effective Principals in 2025 from the Lens of the Supervisor" (2025) and "Student exclusionary consequences and teacher inexperience" (2025). Her contributions have been honored with the Top 10 Finalist position in the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education / Educational Testing Service Dissertation Competition (2007), Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association's Region II Assistant Principal of the Year (2007), and funding for the National Household Education Surveys Program Database Training Seminar by the National Center for Education Statistics (2008).