Rita Kohli

Cultivating spaces of community, healing, and resilience through K-12 Ethnic Studies

juliep — Fri, 29 Jan 2021 16:21:58 +0000

Cultivating spaces of community, healing, and resilience through K-12 Ethnic Studies juliep Fri, 01/29/2021 - 08:21 More News January 25, 2021

The implementation of Ethnic Studies at the K-12 level brings possibilities and challenges in a context of schooling that so often centers and normalizes whiteness. In recentering our curriculum and praxis on narratives, experiences, and perspectives of often marginalized identities and communities, we can build spaces of solidarity with and among our BIPOC students and colleagues.

UCR Teacher Education Program's Ethnic Studies Speaker Series and the Institute for Teachers of Color Committed to Racial Justice invites you to register for “K-12 Ethnic Studies: Cultivating Spaces of Community, Healing, and Resilience for BIPOC Teachers and Students.”

This virtual workshop, held Thursday, February 18 at 4pm, will highlight examples of curriculum from Ethnic Studies teachers and reflections on how ethnic studies allows us to center our sustainability and development as we engage in the deeply personal labor of love of teaching.

Registration Closed

SPEAKERS

Seattle, Washington native Princess Reese is a social justice educator currently serving the curious minds of Dorsey High School in Los Angeles. A graduate of the UCLA TEP program (2018), Princess spends time organizing with #StudentsDeserve, building curriculum with peers, and working towards making every social science class feel like Ethnic Studies.

Nivia Alvarado was born and raised in the Pico neighborhood of Santa Monica, California. Nivia currently works in East Los Angeles, a community that has a long history of youth activism. As an Ethnic Studies educator, Nivia hopes that when her students leave the classroom they are able to develop a critical consciousness that allows them to read the world, feel humanized and become agents of social change. She enjoys collaborating with other educators who are interested in creating curriculum through an Ethnic Studies framework and believes that these are often the best lessons because they are cultivated in community and with confianza.

Darlene Lee is a partner, mother, daughter, friend, teacher, and teacher educator. She currently serves as the faculty advisor for the UCLA Teacher Education Program Ethnic Studies Pathway and appreciates the opportunity to work with so many creative, powerful, loving ethnic studies teachers like Princess and Nivia.

EVENT FACILITATORS

Rita Kohli is an Associate Professor and Equity Advisor in the Graduate School of Education at UC Riverside. She also serves as the coordinator of the Teacher Education Program Ethnic Studies Pathway, and is co-director of the Institute for Teachers of Color Committed to Racial Justice.

Marcos Pizarro is the Associate Dean of the College of Education, Professor of Chicanx Studies at San José State University, and Co-director of the Institute for Teachers of Color Committed to Racial Justice.

About GSOE's Ethnic Studies Speaker Series

Ethnic Studies is the critical, interdisciplinary study of race, ethnicity, and indigeneity with a focus on the history, experiences, and perspectives of Black, Indigenous, Latina/o/x, Asian American, Pacific Islander and other communities of Color within and beyond the United States. The Ethnic Studies Pathway at UC Riverside's Teacher Education Program (TEP) exposes students enrolled in the English and Social Studies credential/Master's to the principles of Ethnic Studies, exploring applications to K-12 school pedagogy and curriculum. One goal, among many, is to create a pipeline of educators who are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and experiences to serve as Ethnic Studies teachers across the region, state, and country. To enhance the scholarly and activist nature of the work, UCR's TEP “Ethnic Studies Speaker Series” engages the Graduate School of Education and the broader community with the voices and work of critical scholars, practitioners, and community activists that enhance understanding of Ethnic Studies.

Questions about the Speaker Series and/or Pathway program can be directed to Dr. Rita Kohli, associate professor and coordinator of the Ethnic Studies Pathway.

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GSOE round-up

juliep — Thu, 28 Jan 2021 19:09:15 +0000

GSOE round-up juliep Thu, 01/28/2021 - 11:09 More News January 12, 2021

Congratulations to Arturo Nevárez, a doctoral candidate in the Education, Society and Culture program. Nevárez received a two-year fellowship from the Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity along with a $5000 stipend. In this fellowship, he will collaborate as a co-researcher on a project with a BranchED scholar on transformative scholarship related to diversifying the teaching profession and critical issues of educational equity for minoritized students. According to their website, the goal of this program is twofold: 1) to support the development and success of emerging scholars of Color whose research interests are within the scope of teacher education and 2) to engage in collaborative and transformative scholarship related to diversifying the teaching profession and intentionally addressing critical issues of educational equity for all students.

Associate Professor Michael Solis was recently selected as a consultant for a $4 million-dollar federal grant received by Hawaii Department of Education. Currently, he is working on providing training of special education on reading interventions for students K-8 through a distance learning platform. This grant will ensure that a larger number of the teachers can be trained over the upcoming years.

Congratulations to Elina Veytsman, PhD student, who received the Michael Goodman Research Award, California Association of School Psychologists, November 2020, for her poster "Observed Effects of the PEERS® Social Skills Intervention for a Diverse Sample of Adolescents with ASD". The Michael Goodman Memorial Research Award recognizes the most outstanding research paper or poster presented at the annual CASP Convention. In the CASP newsletter, Elina said, “As an aspiring clinical researcher, I strongly believe that the value of research can be measured by its ability to have a direct impact on the youth and families it seeks to benefit . . . Our team implemented and adapted the first-ever PEERS intervention for Latinx families, who have been historically underrepresented in ASD intervention research.”

Elizabeth Baker, PhD student, wrote a blog for a UCR Sci Comm, "Cheers for Peers! Improved neural sensitivity to rewards in teens with autism spectrum disorder after intervention," using data from her master’s thesis. Read it here.

Autism Goes to College, a documentary executive produced by Dr. Jan Blacher, won the Jury Award for Best Documentary at the Long Beach International Film Festival.

Associate Professor Rita Kohli’s new book, Teachers of Color: Resisting Racism and Reclaiming Education,will be published in June by Harvard Education Publishing Group.

Teachers of Color describes how racism serves as a continuous barrier against diversifying the teaching force and offers tools to support educators who identify as Black, Indigenous, or people of Color on both a systemic and interpersonal level. Based on in-depth interviews, digital narratives, and questionnaires, the book analyzes the toll of racism on their professional experiences and personal well-being, as well as their resistance and reimagination of schools.

It's now available for pre-order from the publisher. Use the discount code TCSP21 for 20% off. (Also available via Bookshop.org, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble)

Assistant Professor Austin Johnson co-authored School-Based Behavioral Assessment: Second Edition, released January 8, 2021. Revised and expanded with the latest tools and strategies, this concise book offers guidance for effectively conducting social, emotional, and behavioral assessments in today’s K–12 schools. The expert authors present foundational knowledge on assessment and data-based decision making at all levels—whole schools, small groups, or individual students—within a multi-tiered system of support (MTSS). Chapters describe when, why, and how to use extant data, systematic direct observation, direct behavior rating, and rating scales. In a large-size format for easy photocopying, the book includes reproducible forms and templates. Purchasers get access to a Web page where they can download and print the reproducible materials.

The following is a round-up of research and accomplishments sent on behalf of UCR SEARCH Center: Professor Jan Blacher; Assistant Professor Katherine Stavropoulos; Yasamin Bolourian, PhD Special Education, Post-Doctoral Fellow; Elizabeth Baker, PhD student, School Psychology ; Megan Ledoux Galligan, PhD candidate, Special Education ; Ainsley Losh, PhD student, School Psychology ; Elina Veytsman, PhD student, School Psychology ; Michelle Heyman, PhD student, School Psychology ; Tricia Choy, PhD student, School Psychology; Giselle Salinas, PhD student, Special Education ; Bhawandeep Baines, PhD Student, School Psychology; Ann Marie Martin, '20, PhD Special Education

PUBLICATIONS
Baker, B. L., & Blacher, J. (in press). Behavior disorders and social skills in adolescents with intellectual disability: Does co-morbid autism matter? Journal of Mental Health Research in Intellectual Disabilities.

Buren, M. K., Johnson, A. H., Maggin, D. M., Bains, B. K., Ledoux Galligan, M. R., & Couch, L. K. (In press). Research utilization in special education. In B. M. Cook, T. J. Landrum, & M. Tankersley (Eds.), Advances in Learning and Behavioral Disabilities. Emerald Insight. doi: 10.1108/albd

Caplan, B., Blacher, J., Eisenhower, A., Baker, B. L., & Lee, S. S. (in press). Gene x Responsive Parenting Interactions in Social Development: Characterizing Heterogeneity in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Developmental Psychobiology.

Ledoux Galligan, M.R., Suhrheinrich, J., & Kraemer, B. (In press.) Video modeling for high school students with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Special Education Technology.

Baker B. L. & Blacher, J. (2020) Collateral effects of youth disruptive behavior disorders on mothers’ psychological distress: Intellectual disability, or typical development. In: Volkmar F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. NY: Springer.

Baker, E., Veytsman, E., Martin, A. M., Blacher, J., & Stavropoulos, K. (2020). Increased neural reward responsivity in adolescents with ASD after social skills intervention. Brain Sciences, 10(402). doi:10.3390/brainsci/10060402.

Heyman, M., Bolourian, Y., & Blacher, J. (2020). Transition to early schooling for children with ASD. In M. B. McClain, J. D. Shahidullah, & K. Mezher (Eds.), Handbook of Interprofessional Care for Pediatric ASD. New York: Springer.

Levinson, S., Neuspiel, J., Eisenhower, A., & Blacher, J. (2020). Parent-teacher disagreement on ratings of behavior problems in children with ASD: Associations with parental school involvement over time. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04675-1

Losh, A., Alba, L. A., Blacher, J., & Stavropoulos, K. K. M. (2020). Neuroimaging research with diverse children with ASD: Impact of a social story on parent understanding and likelihood of participation. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 71, 101511. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2020.101511

Martin, M. A., Stavropoulos, K. M., & Blacher, J. (2020). Differential diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and early onset schizophrenia: Two clinical cases. Advances in Autism, 6(2), 139-151. https://doi.org/10.1108/AIA-11-2019-0043

Rodas, N.V., Blacher, J., & Baker, B. L. (2020). Predictors of anxiety symptom trajectory in children with or without ID from early childhood to adolescence, Journal of Mental Health Research in Intellectual Disabilities. https://doi.org/10.1080/19315864.2019.1710787

Rydzewska, E., Fleming, M., Young-Southward, G., Blacher, J., Bolourian, Y., Widaman, K., Philo, C., & Cooper, S.-A. (2020, in press). General health status in young people with intellectual disabilities with and without Down syndrome in, and transitioning from, special education. Findings from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2). Journal of Intellectual Disability Research. DOI: 10.1111/jir.12781

PAPER PRESENTATION
Ledoux, M. R., Heyman, M., Bolourian, Y., Eisenhower, A., & Blacher, J. (2021, January). Training for general educators in autism spectrum disorders: Adapting an iterative intervention for remote learning. Paper accepted at UC SPEDDR (virtual).

POSTER PRESENTATIONS
Choy, T., Losh, A., & Blacher, J. (2021, February). Parent-child interaction and social responsiveness in children with autism. Poster accepted at National Association of School Psychology (NASP) Convention (virtual).

Choy, T., Baker, E., Veytsman, E., Martin, A.M., Stavropoulos, K., Blacher, J. (2020, August). “The relationship between problem behaviors and family life following the PEERS® Program.” Poster accepted at American Psychological Association (APA) Annual Convention, Washington D.C. (virtual).

Heyman, M. R., Bolourian, Y., Baker, E., Baker, B. L., & Blacher, J. “Mother, Father, and Adolescent Perspectives: Sibling Relationship Quality of Individuals with ASD, ID, or TD.” Poster accepted at Gatlinburg Conference (virtual).

Veytsman, E., Ledoux, M.R., Salinas, G., Baker, B., & Blacher, J. (2020, December). Mothers’ perspectives on the future of their young adults with and without developmental disabilities. Poster presented at the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, USA. (Virtual conference)

Veytsman, E., Baker, E., & Stavropoulos, K. (2020, October). Observed effects of the PEERS social skills intervention for a diverse sample of adolescents with ASD. Poster presented at the California Association of School Psychologists (CASP) Annual Convention, Palm Springs, CA, USA. (Virtual conference)

Veytsman, E., Salinas, G., Ledoux, M.R., Blacher, J., & Baker, B. (2020, August). Staying positive: Dispositional optimism & attitudes for the future among mothers of adults with IDD. Poster accepted to the American Psychological Association (APA) Annual Convention, Washington, D.C., USA. (Virtual conference)

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Article examines the role professional development plays in supporting Black women educators

Sandy Tsan — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 20:18:42 +0000

Article examines the role professional development plays in supporting Black women educators Sandy Tsan Wed, 01/27/2021 - 12:18 More News January 27, 2021

Doctoral candidate Tanisha Lisle-Johnson and Associate Professor Rita Kohli recently published the paper “Critical Black women educators: Resisting the racial and ideological marginality of K–12 teaching through critical professional development” in Theory Into Practice.

According to their abstract, “Black women educators are severely underrepresented and make up just 5% of US public school teachers. For critical Black women educators working in the hostile racial climates of schools, the ideological marginalization compounds the intersectional racial and gendered alienation they feel. In this article, we theorize the racialization critical Black women educators experience even working in schools that serve communities of Color as they work to disrupt the status quo, challenge racism, and serve students of Color. Through key cases of Black women educators, we describe how critical professional development spaces address these forms of isolation and support their personal and professional wellbeing. We specifically answer what they gain from having access to networks of like-minded peers as they navigate working within institutions fraught with racism. This paper ends with recommendations for developing, retaining, and supporting a teaching force inclusive of critical Black women.”

Tanisha Lisle-Johnson is a doctoral candidate in the Education, Society, and Culture program at the UCR Graduate School of Education. Her research focuses on how Black parents describe the racialized experiences of TK–12 children in schools, and what they feel are the contributing factors to current racial disparities in the Inland Empire. Tanisha’s research and teaching are driven by her personal experiences as a student in New York City Public Schools, her role as one of the few Black teachers and teacher leaders in her district, and her passion for civic engagement and social equality. Tanisha’s interests in education began as a young girl growing up in Brooklyn, NY.

“I am the second of three children born of my mother and father who came to the United States from Jamaica during the seventies. My family’s journey to America had always been based on the premise of providing opportunities for future generations to have a better chance in life, both educationally and economically. Though I come from modest means, I was able to attend The Lawrenceville School, a prestigious boarding school in New Jersey, with the help of an organization that connected inner-city African American and Latino youth to the world of private secondary schools, prestige, and the “American Dream,” said Tanisha.

Tanisha holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from the University of Rochester, a Master’s degree in Elementary Education, and an Advanced Certificate in Urban Teaching & Leadership from the Warner Graduate School of Education. She has taught grades K-8th and worked at the district level on Math and Reading initiatives for the last 14 years.

Rita Kohli is an associate professor in the Education, Society and Culture program in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Riverside. She has a Ph.D. in Education with an emphasis on Race and Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles. As an Oakland Unified School District teacher, teacher educator, and educational researcher, Kohli has spent 20 years in urban public schools across the country. Her research interests include critical race theory, the racial climate of teacher education and schools, critical teacher development, and the struggles, assets and possibilities of teachers of Color across the pipeline. She is the former chair for the Critical Educators for Social Justice Special Interest Group for the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the co-founder and co-director of the Institute for Teachers of Color Committed to Racial Justice (ITOC), and currently serves on the editorial board of the international journal Race, Ethnicity and Education. Kohli is the co-editor of the book, Confronting Racism in Teacher Education: Narratives from Teacher Educators and has published in journals such as Journal of Teacher Education, the Review of Research in Education, Teacher Education Quarterly, and Urban Education. She was the recipient the UCR Innovator for Social Change Award (2016), the Scholar Activist and Community Advocacy Award from the Critical Educators for Social Justice Special Interest Group of AERA (2017), and the Early Career Award of the Division G: Social Context of Education Division of AERA (2018).

Critical Black women educators: Resisting the racial and ideological marginality of K–12 teaching through critical professional development

Citation: Tanisha Lisle-Johnson & Rita Kohli (2020) Critical Black women educators: Resisting the racial and ideological marginality of K–12 teaching through critical professional development, Theory Into Practice, 59:4, 348-357, DOI: 10.1080/00405841.2020.1773181

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graduate students

Students launch Future Teachers of Color Committed to Racial Justice

juliep — Thu, 26 Mar 2020 18:59:42 +0000

Students launch Future Teachers of Color Committed to Racial Justice juliep Thu, 03/26/2020 - 11:59 More News March 26, 2020

Each year, the Institute for Teachers of Color Committed to Racial Justice (ITOC) brings together roughly 120 educators from around the nation for a three-day conference designed to support the leadership capacities of teachers of Color who serve mostly students of Color. Co-founded by Dr. Rita Kohli, ITOC conference’s programming has addressed issues including coping with increased standardized testing pressures, resource inequities, and the current racial and political climate. The event also creates a safe space for teachers of Color to connect and support one another.

After attending the event for two running years, GSOE graduate student Andrea Carreno Cortez (M.Ed., Diversity and Equity) was inspired to launch a student organization that mirrors ITOC’s mission for future educators at UCR. With the guidance of Dr. Kohli, she and undergraduate student Lesly Monsalve started Future Teachers of Color Committed to Racial Justice (FTOC). FTOC President Carreno Cortez discusses the mission and goals of the new organization.

Tell us about Future Teachers of Color (FTOC) Committed to Racial Justice. FTOC’s mission is to bring together and build a community of racial justice-oriented students of Color from UCR who want to pursue teaching in a K-12 or higher education, and other careers in the education field. Our main goal is to empower future educators of Color to teach for racial and social justice in order to build racially transformative classrooms and schools. We hope to do this by creating a safe space for students to critically think and talk about educational issues involving race and racism, providing volunteer opportunities in educational settings, and by inviting guest speakers to share their racial and social justice work with us.

I am incredibly proud of the community of future educators of Color that has already began to grow in the short time that FTOC has been present at UCR. We have created a safe space to hear each other out by sharing our personal experiences of navigating the K-12 schooling system as students of Color. What is most inspiring as well is our ability to hear and build on each other’s ideas of ways to bring racial and social justice into education.

What inspired you to start FTOC? FTOC is inspired by the Institute for Teachers of Color Committed to Racial Justice. Coming up on its 10^thyear, what I most admire about the ITOC conference is the community building opportunity that it has provided for many K-12 teachers of Color from across the country who work towards racial justice every day. This what inspired me to start an on-campus organization for future educators that could model what ITOC is doing. In addition, Dr. Rita Kohli, a professor from the Graduate School of Education and co-founder of the ITOC conference, has been a huge inspiration of FTOC. Dr. Kohli has helped me and Lesly Monsalve, FTOC’s vice president and co-founder, throughout the process of creating the organization, and we are very grateful for her support.

Can you tell us about some of the goals and future plans for the organization? We are really looking forward to our main event of the year, which is the ITOC conference in June. FTOC members will volunteer throughout the three-day event and will get the chance to meet and connect with current teachers of Color to learn about the racial justice work they do every day in their classrooms and community. We look forward to having FTOC Community Outreach Coordinators, Maria Fernanda Lizarraga and Guillermo Valdin, reach out to local schools and social-justice organizations to hopefully get in contact and collaborate with them soon.

I am also excited about the work we will be doing with FTOC’s social media coordinator, Jacqueline Aguilar, secretary, Julian Felix, and treasurer, Sureya Washburn, to help make FTOC a great experience for its members. We plan to fundraise to help future FTOC members pay for their CBEST and/or CSET tests needed to apply for teaching credential programs. We also plan to fundraise for FTOC members to attend talks and conferences on racial and social justice, and to create FTOC shirts and buttons to wear to these events.

How can interested students learn more about joining FTOC? If you identify as a UCR student of Color who is passionate about education and is committed to learning more about and doing racial/social justice work, I encourage you to join FTOC! There is no specific major/program you must be in to join.

To learn more about FTOC, follow the organization on Instagram @ftoc_ucr, contact acarr041@ucr.edu, or visit the FTOC's highlander link website.

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