What is Indigeneity? Who is
Indigenous? What are Indigenous ways of knowing and teaching in the
classroom? These are some of the questions that will be explored at the second national
summit on Indigeneity and the K-12 Curriculum, which will be held on January
24-25, 2020, at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center. Members
of the National Latino Education Research and Policy Project (NLERAPP;
pronounced “nel-rap”), a national nonprofit and 20-year-old consortium of
universities and community-based organizations, will convene at the event.
“In light of the crossing of Indigenous peoples
across the U.S.-Mexico border, the recent passage of Mexican American Studies
and Native American Studies in Texas schools, and the national Ethnic Studies
Movement, this summit helps to advance this conversation by providing a context
where pertinent questions to the K-12 classroom can get asked,” says The
University of Texas at Austin Professor Angela Valenzuela. Valenzuela
leads NLERAPP and is director of the Texas Center for Education Policy, housed
at UT Austin’s College of Education.
The summit will feature sessions on Indigenous
mathematics and fine arts, as well as topics related to identity and teaching through
Indigenous ways of knowing, based on work that takes place in both university
and primary and secondary classrooms around the country where Indigeneity is an
explicit focus.
NLERAPP provides school-based practitioner
knowledge and expertise related to the changing demographics and educational
needs of Latinas/os and other minorities to help ensure their success in
the 21st century. The organization addresses the teacher preparation and retention
crisis and the underrepresentation of Latino/a teachers. With early support
from the Ford and Kellogg Foundations, their research has shown that an
exclusively university-based approach is not sufficient for student success and
excellent schools.
“What the summit exemplifies,” says Valenzuela, “is
what we have learned as a national organization. We must extend our efforts
beyond both the university and traditional classroom setting and build
partnerships within the larger community. This reach includes businesses, the
non-profit sector, civil rights organizations, community-based organizations
and so on if we are to develop the appropriate knowledge, skills, and
dispositions for a Latinx demographic that while facing significant challenges,
is unmistakably poised, as emergent bilinguals, to reap the rewards and
opportunities of an increasingly interconnected world.”
NLERAPP members from San
Diego State University; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona; Denver,
Colorado, Minnesota, Chicago, San Antonio, Texas, and special invited guests and presenters from the
Autonomous University of Benito Juarez in Oaxaca will be in attendance at this
year’s summit.
Space is limited so please RSVP right away if you plan to attend. In addition, 16 CPE credit hours are available to all Texas public school teachers!
Friday January 24- Saturday January 25, 2020
Emma Barrientos Mexican American Culture Center
600 River St., Austin, TX 78701
COST
$300.00 for elementary or secondary bilingual/dual language and Ethnic Studies teachers receiving CPE Credit
$100.00 for attendees
Nos vemos pronto! See you soon!
Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D., Executive Director
National Latina/o Education Research and Policy Project, Inc.
Department of Educational Leadership and Policy
University of Texas at Austin
