Dr. Ida Rose Florez is an education systems psychologist who approaches the world, and how people learn, through a complexity lens. In her consulting work with governments, nonprofits and educational organizations, she brings the ability to translate big theoretical ideas into actionable next steps. She expertly curates and inspires internal and cross-systems teams to transcend perceived barriers and discover solutions that work. Her background includes systems development and reinvention at the state and national level; large scale program evaluation; design-based research; improvement and innovation science; STEM-learning ecosystem development; creation of online, customizable educator professional development resources; data collection and analysis; and international program development.
Ida Rose is laser-focused on equity and inclusivity. She spent her early career as a PreK-12 school psychologist, working on behalf of children with learning difficulties in urban and rural settings. Her more recent work has focused on informing large-scale systems change. Her testimony as an expert witness in the federal Horne v. Flores case led the Arizona Department of Education to overhaul the Arizona English Language Learners Assessment for kindergarteners. She has been published in Teachers College Record, Language Policy, the UCLA Civil Rights Project, and Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education.
Dr. Florez is the former Vice President of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (2014 to 2018). She provided governance oversight as chair of the Affiliate Relations Committee to the massive reinvention of the NAEYC affiliate structure.
Ida Rose holds a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Arizona, a master’s degree and specialist certification in school psychology from Millersville University and a bachelor’s in behavioral science from National University.

Dr. Florez works for WestEd's Center for Child and Family Studies where she specializes in early childhood systems development Before joining WestEd, Ida Rose was Senior Director, Strategic Initiatives, with Arizona's Early Childhood Development and Health Board. In that capacity she oversaw Arizona's early childhood professional development system-building efforts and served as assessment consultant to the Arizona Department of Education. Dr. Florez holds a Ph.D. in educational psychology with a focus in early childhood assessment from the University of Arizona. As a school psychologist. Dr. Florez has over 20 years' experience providing expert early childhood developmental, educational, and assessment consultation.