INVITATION: "Examining the Moral Injuries and Oppressive Impacts of High-Stakes Tests," Wed., Feb. 8th at 6PM CST

***Open to the Public: Please Disseminate Widely***

Dear Friends, Students and Colleagues:

Want to share this virtual panel presentation that Dr. Ricardo Rosa—on behalf of Uniting to Save Our Schools (USOS) and organizations in solidarity with them—has organized an important event. Dr. Rosa works at the Massachusetts Teachers Association.

Register here to attend the event via Zoom on Wednesday, February 8th from 6-7:30PM CST / 7-8:30PM EST / 4-5:30PM PST.

I am so very honored to appear on this panel with Congressman Jamaal Bowman and such great scholars and advocates addressing, as the title says, the "Moral Injuries and Oppressive Impacts of High-Stakes Tests." Boy, do we know all about this here in Texas. 

Though not necessarily in this order on the day of, here is the presentation lineup:

• Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D., Educational Leadership and Policy,University of Texas at Austin
• Wayne Au, Ph.D., School of Educational Studies, University of Washington Bothell
  
• Congressman Jamaal Bowman, 16th Congressional District of New York 
• Deborah McCarthy, Vice President of the Massachusetts Teachers Association and long-time conscientious objector to administering the state test
• Harry Feder, Executive Director, National Center for Fair and Open Testing (or FairTest)

To prepare for this event, I encourage everyone to read this earlier blog post titled, "Why the Academic Achievement Gap is a Racist Idea By Ibram X. Kendi." Check out the FairTest website, too, as they have carried the water on the battle against high-stakes testing at the national level for decades. Test-based entrance exams like the SAT and ACT, in higher education, as well.

Finally, if you're in Texas and want to know what we're advocating for here in the context of the 88th Session of the Texas State Legislature currently underway, check out the Raise Your Hand Texas Legislative Agenda.

-Angela Valenzuela

"Rethinking Ethnic Studies" wins 2019 GOLD WINNER, Foreword INDIES Awards

Congratulations to editors R. Tolteka Cuauhtin, Miguel Zavala​, Christine Sleeter​, and Wayne Au​ for receiving the 2019 GOLD WINNER, Foreword INDIES Award, education category, for their anthology titled "Rethinking Ethnic Studies."  

Dr. Emilio Zamora and I are proud to say that we have a piece in this volume titled, “Ethnic Studies and Community-Engaged Scholarship in Texas: The Weaving of a Broader ‘We.'” 

Many of these pieces work for both the high school and college classroom. Plus, they grow out of the Ethnic Studies Movement that has gained significant traction in recent years.  So happy for the editors, as well as all the contributors (see Table of Contents below).  

It was a lot of hard work, but it has all paid off.

Felicidades!

-Angela Valenzuela

Section 1: Framing Ethnic Studies

• “The Movement for Ethnic Studies: A Timeline” By Miguel Zavala, R. Tolteka Cuauhtin, Wayne Au, and Christine Sleeter
• “Multicultural Education or Ethnic Studies?” By Christine Sleeter, Joni Boyd Acuff, Courtney Bentley, Sandra Guzman Foster, Peggy Morrison, and Vera Stenhouse
• “Ethnic Studies: 10 Common Misconceptions” By Miguel Zavala, Nick Henning, and Tricia Gallagher-Geurtsen
• “What Is Ethnic Studies Pedagogy?” By Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, Rita Kohli, Jocyl Sacramento, Nick Henning, Ruchi Agarwal-Rangnath, and Christine Sleeter
• “Ethnic Studies Pedagogy as CxRxPx” By R. Tolteka Cuauhtin
• “Counter-Storytelling and Decolonial Pedagogy: The Xicanx Institute for Teaching and Organizing” By Anita E. Fern‡ández
• “The Matrix of Social Identity and Intersectional Power: A Classroom Resource” By R. Tolteka Cuauhtin
• “Creating We Schools: Lessons Learned from Critically Compassionate Intellectualism and the Social Justice Education Project” By Augustine Romero and Julio Cammarota
• “Six Reasons I Want My White Child to Take Ethnic Studies” By Jon Greenberg
• “Revisiting Notions of Social Action in Ethnic Studies Pedagogy: One Teacher’s Critical Lessons from the Classroom” By Cati V. de los Rios
• “The Ethnic Studies Framework: A Holistic Overview” By R. Tolteka Cuauhtin

Section 2: Indigeneity and Roots

• “Collective Healing: Release the Tears, Confront and Bypass the Fear” By Rose Borunda
• “The Kids ‘n Room 36: Cognates, Culture, and the Ecosystem” By Jaime Cuello
• “‘My Family’s Not from Africa—We Come from North Carolina!’: Teaching Slavery in Context” By Waahida Tolbert-Mbatha
• “Barangay Pedagogy: Teaching as a Collective Act” By Arlene Sudaria Daus-Magbual, Roderick Daus-Magbual, Raju Desai, and Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales
• “Do I Need to Mail in My Spit?: The Importance of a Teacher’s Roots in Teaching Ethnic Studies” By Dominique A. Williams
• “Our Oral History Narrative Project” By Aimee Riechel
• “Rethinking Islamophobia: A Muslim Educator and Curriculum Developer Questions Whether Religious Literacy Is an Effective Antidote to Combat Bigotries Rooted in American History” By Alison Kysia
• “Hmong Club: Empowering Us” By Pang Hlub Xiong
• “Critical Family History” By Christine Sleeter

Section 3: Colonization and Dehumanization

• “Burning Books and Destroying Peoples: How the World Became Divided Between ‘Rich’ and ‘Poor Countries'” By Bob Peterson
• “Genocide of Native Californians Role Play” By Aimee Riechel and interview by Miguel Zavala
• “The Advent of White Supremacy and Colonization/Dehumanization of African Americans” By Deirdre Harris
• “Challenging Colonialism: Ethnic Studies in Elementary Social Studies” By Carolina Valdez
• “Cherokee and Seminole Removal Role Play” By Bill Bigelow
• “Sin Fronteras Boy: Students Create Collaborative Websites to Explore the Border” By Grace Cornell Gonzales
• “The Color Line” By Bill Bigelow

Section 4: Hegemony and Normalization

• “Connecting the Dots” By Stephen Leeper
• “History Textbooks—’Theirs’ and ‘Ours’: A Rebellion or a War of Independence?” By John DeRose
• “Learning About the Unfairgrounds” By Katie Baydo-Reed
• “Whose Community Is This?: The Mathematics of Neighborhood Displacement” By Eric “Rico” Gutstein
• “Reclaiming Hidden History: High School Students Face Opposition When They Create a Slavery Walking Tour in Manhattan” By Michael Pezone and Alan Singer
• “Teaching a Native Feminist Read” By Angie Morrill with K. Wayne Yang
• “Teaching John Bell’s Four I’s of Oppression” By R. Tolteka Cuauhtin
• “Ethnic Studies Educators As Enemies of the State and the Fugitive Space of Classrooms” By Tracy Lachica Buenavista, David Stovall, Edward R. Curammeng, and Carolina Valdez

Section 5: Regeneration and Transformation

• “Reimagining and Rewriting Our Lives Through Ethnic Studies” By Roxana Due–ñas, Jorge L—ópez, and Eduardo L—ópez
• “Regeneration/Transformation:Cultivating Self-Love Through Tezcatlipoca” By Mictlani Gonzalez
• “Happening Yesterday, Happened Tomorrow: Teaching the Ongoing Murders of Black Men” By RenŽée Watson
• “We Have Community Cultural Wealth!: Scaffolding Tara Yosso’s Theory for Classroom Praxis” By R. Tolteka Cuauhtin
• “Standing with Standing Rock: A Role Play on the Dakota Access Pipeline” By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca
• “Tipu: Connections, Love, and Liberation” By Curtis Acosta
• “Teaching Freire’s Levels of Consciousness: A Lesson Plan” By Jose Gonzalez
• “Chicana/o-Mexicana/o Resistance and Armation in the Post-Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Era: Curriculum Unit Narrative” By Sean Arce

Section 6: Organizing for and Sustaining Ethnic Studies

• “Moving Ethnic Studies from Theory to Practice: A Liberating Process” By Guillermo Antonio G—ómez and Eduardo “Kiki” Ochoa
• “Missing Pages of Our History” By Kaiya Laguardia-Yonamine
• “The Emergence of the Ethnic Studies Now Coalition in Yangna (Los Angeles) and Beyond: Two, Three, Many Tucsons” By Guadalupe Carrasco Cardona and R. Tolteka Cuauhtin
• “The Struggle for Ethnic Studies in the Golden State: Capitol City Organizers and Activists” By RubŽén A. Gonz‡ález, Maribel Rosendo-Serv’ín, and Dominique A. Williams
• “Ethnic Studies in Providence Schools” By Karla E. Vigil and Zack Mezera
• “We Don’t Want to Just Study the World, We Want to Change It: Ethnic Studies and the Development of Transformative Students and Educators” By Kyle Beckham and Artnelson Concordia
• “Ethnic Studies and Community-Engaged Scholarship in Texas: The Weaving of a Broader ‘We'” By Emilio Zamora and Angela Valenzuela
• “For Us, by Us: Ethnic Studies as Self-Determination in Chicago” By Noem’ CortŽs, Jennie Garcia, Stacey Gibson, Dua’a Joudeh, Lupita Ramirez, Cecily Relucio Hensler, Cinthya Rodriguez, Maraliz Salgado, David Stovall, JohnaŽ Strong, Jessica Suarez Nieto, Aaron Talley, Lisa Vaughn, and Asif Wilson
• “Victory for Mexican American Studies in Arizona: An Interview with Curtis Acosta” Interview by Ari Bloomekatz