Angela Valenzuela is the director of the National Latino/a Education Research and Policy Project (or NLERAPP; pronounced "nel-rap"). NLERAPP is orchestrating national-level “grow-your-own,” community-based, university-connected, teacher education pipeline termed the Grow Your Own-Teacher Education Institutes (GYO-TEI) initiative facilitated by a Ford Foundation 15-month planning grant, as well as a Kellogg grant that has helped fund the writing of a forthcoming higher education, teacher preparation curriculum handbook titled, Growing Critically Conscious
Teachers for Latino/a Youth: A Social Justice Curriculum for Educators of Latino/a
Youth, Teachers College Press, April, 2016). This strategy is a multi-year commitment on behalf
of multiple partners (i.e., postsecondary institutions, community-based organizations, business, and public officials) that seek to invigorate under-resourced schools and communities with an on-going, infusion of human, material, and intellectual resources in order to address the teacher preparation
and retention crises in our states and nation, as well as the under-representation of Latino/a teachers (7.1% nationally).
NLERAPP holds two premises at its core: First, a sociocultural and sociopolitical approach to learning is more effective than traditional approaches for historically marginalized youth in schools; second, research is more meaningful when it is defined through the experiences and knowledge of our community partners. NLERAPP’s vision is to raise national voices for improving school, teacher and instructional quality for Latino/as in the U.S. via collaborative research and policy work that supports our programmatic goals. Through the establishment of GYO-TEI sites throughout the country, NLERAPP intends to lead scalable, systemic education reform for all students by developing a national and regional structure that supports and sustains the creation of a critical mass of culturally competent educators.
See our website at NLERAPP.COM to get a listing of who we are and how we're organized. Here are a few photos that we have taken over the years that give you a sense of the collegiality that we enjoy. I especially like the photos that show us at work because they reflect the passion that we all hold for our work as an organization. To read more about NLERAPP's GYO-TEI initiative and philosophy, visit the following writings by NLERAPP scholars:
Teachers for Latino/a Youth: A Social Justice Curriculum for Educators of Latino/a
Youth, Teachers College Press, April, 2016). This strategy is a multi-year commitment on behalf
of multiple partners (i.e., postsecondary institutions, community-based organizations, business, and public officials) that seek to invigorate under-resourced schools and communities with an on-going, infusion of human, material, and intellectual resources in order to address the teacher preparation
and retention crises in our states and nation, as well as the under-representation of Latino/a teachers (7.1% nationally).
NLERAPP holds two premises at its core: First, a sociocultural and sociopolitical approach to learning is more effective than traditional approaches for historically marginalized youth in schools; second, research is more meaningful when it is defined through the experiences and knowledge of our community partners. NLERAPP’s vision is to raise national voices for improving school, teacher and instructional quality for Latino/as in the U.S. via collaborative research and policy work that supports our programmatic goals. Through the establishment of GYO-TEI sites throughout the country, NLERAPP intends to lead scalable, systemic education reform for all students by developing a national and regional structure that supports and sustains the creation of a critical mass of culturally competent educators.
See our website at NLERAPP.COM to get a listing of who we are and how we're organized. Here are a few photos that we have taken over the years that give you a sense of the collegiality that we enjoy. I especially like the photos that show us at work because they reflect the passion that we all hold for our work as an organization. To read more about NLERAPP's GYO-TEI initiative and philosophy, visit the following writings by NLERAPP scholars: