Dale Allender, Ph.D. is a life-long anti-racist educator whose work spans from the classroom, the television screen and into cyberspace. While he addresses a broad array of topics, such as restorative justice, micro-aggressions, and culturally relevant curriculum, his primary focus concerns reading and writing counter-stories to transform classroom communities. Dale is an Assistant Professor of language and literacy in the Department of Teaching Credentials at California State University-Sacramento; and a mentor for the National Urban Alliance working directly with students, teachers and administrators in the Buffalo, New York and Minneapolis, Minnesota public school districts. He is the founder of NCTE West at UC Berkeley, which he directed from 2003-2015. His most recent publications include a book chapter analyzing factors related to student engagement in urban schools, and another describing his role in building a school in rural West Africa.
Clavis Anderson has over thirty years of experience in “unlocking potential” in children and adults, which include fifteen years as a classroom teacher, one year as a Curriculum Resource Teacher, two years as a Student Intern Supervisor for the University of South Carolina, eleven years as a state level Literacy Coaching Specialist, four years as an adjunct instructor for the University of South Carolina and a Professional Development Provider for schools and organizations in various states. Clavis brings her coaching skills and passion for social justice, fairness and equity to schools, mentorship programs, and individuals who see a need for re-envisioning their personal and professional lives, and their organizations through the lenses of equity, compassion, and fairness.
Mrs. Anderson is a certified instructor for the Decision Making for Results: Data-Driven Decision Making and Data Teams seminars; she is certified in the Power of Teaching Research Foundations and Observation Protocols, certified in Cognitive Coaching ℠ and is a certified CAPP© Institute Personal Development Coach. Her drive for social justice and equity make her a sought after Diversity Advocate.
In her recent work, Clavis facilitates The Way To Freedom, a group of African -American and White women (mostly educators) who meet regularly to read about and discuss the roles of race and privilege in our society. The group’s goal is to positively impact audiences through the lessons we have learned during our work together. Clavis also provides professional development to schools, and at the heart of her work is helping teachers do the hard work of addressing issues of race and social justice and to move from a “teaching for tolerance” to “teaching for acceptance” mindset.
Mrs. Anderson is a certified instructor for the Decision Making for Results: Data-Driven Decision Making and Data Teams seminars; she is certified in the Power of Teaching Research Foundations and Observation Protocols, certified in Cognitive Coaching ℠ and is a certified CAPP© Institute Personal Development Coach. Her drive for social justice and equity make her a sought after Diversity Advocate.
In her recent work, Clavis facilitates The Way To Freedom, a group of African -American and White women (mostly educators) who meet regularly to read about and discuss the roles of race and privilege in our society. The group’s goal is to positively impact audiences through the lessons we have learned during our work together. Clavis also provides professional development to schools, and at the heart of her work is helping teachers do the hard work of addressing issues of race and social justice and to move from a “teaching for tolerance” to “teaching for acceptance” mindset.
Dr. Gloria Boutte holds the academic rank of professor at the University of South Carolina. For more than three decades, Dr. Boutte’s scholarship, teaching, and service have focused on equity pedagogies and teaching for social justice in Early Childhood Education. She has served as Department Chair and held a distinguished endowed chair for four years. Dr. Boutte is the author of three books: (1) Educating African American Students: And how are the children; (2) Multicultural Education: Raising Consciousness and (3) Resounding Voices: School Experiences of People From Diverse Ethnic Backgrounds. She has published numerous articles and has presented nationally and internationally on:
- Culturally Relevant Teaching
- Teaching Standards Using Culturally Relevant Teaching
- Critical Literacy
- Disapora Literacy
- Diversity
- Linguistic Diversity
- African American Language
- African American Students
- Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students
- Multicultural Early Childhood Education
- Culturally Relevant Teaching for Infants and Toddlers
- Urban Parent, Family, and Community Involvement
- Culturally Relevant Math and Science Teaching
- Decolonizing Pedagogies
- And other topics which address issues of equity in pre-k- 12 grade schools.
Dr. Eliza G. Braden (formerly, Eliza Allen) is an Assistant Professor of Elementary Education at the University of South Carolina, Columbia. She brings 8 years of classroom teaching experience in a school primarily serving Latinx children and families. She has served as an elementary classroom teacher, early interventionist, and English Learner (EL) teacher. She conducts professional development in schools focusing on literacy, English language learners, and culturally relevant pedagogies. As a teacher educator, Braden focuses her work on critical language and literacy practices of culturally and linguistically diverse young children, social justice education, and digital literacy. She has published in journals such as Journal of Language and Literacy Education, Language Arts, Language Arts Journal of Michigan, and English in Texas.
Ronda Taylor Bullock is an anti-racist educator. She taught in public schools for nearly ten years and spent time as a full-release mentor to beginning teachers. Her passion for racial equity leads her to work with early elementary students, helping them to develop healthy racial identities while educating them on the history of race and racism. Using a critical race theory lens, her research focuses on whiteness and how white elementary students perceive their racial identity and the racial identities of minorities.
Additionally, Ronda is the co-founder of we are which stands for working to extend anti-racist education. As an affiliate of Duke University’s Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity, we are works to equip students, parents, and educators with the knowledge and skills necessary
to understand the complexity of racism and to extend anti-racist education with the
ultimate goal of dismantling systemic racism.
Ronda works as the University Supervisor for Duke University’s Master of Arts in Teaching Program while she completes her doctorate degree in Education at UNC Chapel Hill.
Additionally, Ronda is the co-founder of we are which stands for working to extend anti-racist education. As an affiliate of Duke University’s Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity, we are works to equip students, parents, and educators with the knowledge and skills necessary
to understand the complexity of racism and to extend anti-racist education with the
ultimate goal of dismantling systemic racism.
Ronda works as the University Supervisor for Duke University’s Master of Arts in Teaching Program while she completes her doctorate degree in Education at UNC Chapel Hill.
Tamara Butler is Assistant Professor in the Department of English and the African American and African Studies Program at Michigan State University. Through her research and service, Dr. Butler works toward more ethical, critical and responsible teaching practices and policies. As a member of the ELATE (English Language Arts Teacher Educators) Executive Committee, she advocates for more generative spaces for educators (pre-service and in-service teachers and teacher educators) to creatively approach literacy education. As a result, in her classrooms and workshops, she infuses theories from Critical Ethnic Studies and Black Feminist Studies with arts-integrated pedagogies to discuss social -isms and -phobias (i.e., racism, sexism, ableism, transphobia, xenophobia). Some of her publications, which were co-authored with English educators and critical literacies scholars, are featured in Race, Justice and Activism in Literacy Education (2020), Service Learning and Literacy Education (2014), Theory into Practice (2015), and more. Currently, she is working on two research projects that center communities of color: one focuses on the role(s) of Black women's storytelling and placemaking and the second focuses on engaged pedagogies as socially-responsible, intergenerational and interwoven.
Dr. Jamal Cooks, originally from Oakland, CA., is a tenured, Professor at San Francisco State University. Dr. Cooks has taught public school social studies, community college English, and teacher education courses at the university level. He earned his B.A. from University of California at Berkeley and a M.A. in Social Studies Curriculum Development from the University of Michigan. Dr. Cooks completed his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan with a dissertation entitled "Explicit Instruction, assumed skills, or something in the middle: Expository writing development in different learning environments with high school freshmen." Dr. Cooks has published a number of articles about language, literacy, and culture including examining how to use hip hop in the classroom, building expository writing skills, and exploring experiences of African Americans in institutions serving urban students. Dr. Cooks serves as a Co- Principal Investigator on a National Science Foundation Grant on Advanced Technical Education, an Executive Board member of the Conference on English Education, and in 2010, he was voted on of the 20 Most Influential Education Professors in the California.
Dr. Valerie Kinloch’s research examines the literacies and community engagements of young people inside and outside schools. She is author of publications on race, place, literacy, and diversity. Her book, Harlem Our Minds: Place, Race, and the Literacies of Urban Youth, received the 2011 Exemplary Research Award from Division K of the American Educational Research Association, and the 2011 Honorary Mention for Outstanding Contribution to Research from AERA’s Division B. In 2012, Harlem received the Outstanding Book of the Year Award from AERA. Valerie is the recipient of the 2010 AERA Scholars of Color Early Career Award, the 2015 Diversity Enhancement Award from OSU’s College of Education and Human Ecology, the 2015 Distinguished Diversity Award from OSU, and the 2015 Rewey Belle Inglis Award for Outstanding Women in English Education from the National Council of Teachers of English. She has received grants from the Spencer Foundation, National Council of Teachers of English, and Corporation for National and Community Service. With colleagues, she participated in a Fulbright-Hayes research project to Sierra Leone, West Africa (to focus on connections among language, culture, and history in Sierra Leone and the U.S. Gullah Islands). Currently, she is working on literacy, justice, and community engaged projects.
Dr. Marcelle Haddix is a Dean’s Associate Professor and chair of the Reading and Language Arts department in the Syracuse University School of Education. Her scholarly interests center on the experiences of students of color in literacy and and teacher education and the importance of centering Blackness in educational practices and spaces. She directs two youth literacy programs: the Writing Our Lives project, a program geared toward supporting the writing practices of students within and beyond school contexts, and the Dark Girls afterschool program aimed at celebrating Black girl literacies. Haddix’s work is featured in Research in the Teaching of English, English Education, Linguistics and Education, and Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy and in her recently published book, Cultivating Racial and Linguistic Diversity in Literacy Teacher Education: Teachers Like Me. Her awards and recognitions include the American Educational Research Association Division K Early Career Award; the National Council for Teachers of English Promising Researcher Award; and the NCTE Janet Emig Award. She earned a Ph.D. from Boston College, a master’s degree in education from Cardinal Stritch University, and a bachelor’s degree in English education from Drake University.
Dr. Bettina L. Love is an award-winning author and Associate Professor of Educational Theory & Practice at the University of Georgia. Her area of expertise focuses on the ways in which elementary-aged students negotiate race and culture to form identities in and outside the classroom. Dr. Love is a sought-after public speaker on a range of topics including: Hip Hop education, Black girlhood, queer youth, Hip Hop feminism, art-based education to foster youth civic engagement, and issues of diversity. In 2014, she was invited to the White House Research Conference on Girls to discuss her work focused on the lives of Black girls. In addition, she is the inaugural recipient of the Michael F. Adams award (2014) from the University of Georgia. She has also provided commentary for various news outlets including NPR, The Guardian, and the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Dr. Love is one of the founding board members of The Kindezi School, an innovative school focused on small classrooms and art-based education. She conducts workshops/professional development seminars for educators and students from educational entities of all kinds.
Dr. Love is one of the founding board members of The Kindezi School, an innovative school focused on small classrooms and art-based education. She conducts workshops/professional development seminars for educators and students from educational entities of all kinds.
Dr. Erin Miller is an assistant professor of Reading and Elementary Education at The University of North Carolina, Charlotte. Her research and teaching focus on literacy practices in early childhood and elementary classrooms, particularly how languages reinforce and/or interrupt racist practices. She uses qualitative methodologies, drawing on the genre of parent/grandparent ethnographies to describe anti-racist classroom practices. She works with teachers to uncover nuanced levels of racism that are often most powerful because they are invisible and thus, uninterrupted. She is co-author of a book, Tensions and Triumphs in the Early Years of Teaching and has published her research in journals such as Ethnography and Education, The Urban Review, Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, Action in Teacher and Education, Early Childhood Education Journal. She is the winner of the 2012 AERA Critical Perspectives in Early Childhood Small Interest Group's Dissertation of the Year for her work on Whiteness, Discourse and Early Childhood.
Dr. Gholnecsar (Gholdy) Muhammad began her career as a reading, language arts, and social studies middle school teacher. After teaching in the classroom, she served as a school district curriculum director and was responsible for K-12 literacy instruction, assessments, and professional development. Dr. Muhammad received her PhD in Literacy, Language and Culture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her research interests are situated in the historical foundations of literacy development and the writing practices among Black communities. Each year she holds a summer literacy institute with Black girls called, Black Girls WRITE! which reflects literacy practices found in nineteenth century African American literary societies. Her work has appeared in numerous books and journals, including Research in the Teaching of English, Urban Education, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy and Written Communication. Dr. Muhammad is currently an associate professor of Language and Literacy at Georgia State University. Additionally, she serves as the director of the Urban Literacy Collaborative and Clinic. She strives to shape the national conversation for educating youth who have been underserved. She works with teachers and young people across the United States and South Africa in best practices in culturally responsive instruction. She also served as a school board president and continues to work collaboratively with local schools across communities in the Atlanta area. Dr. Muhammad is the 2014 recipient of the National Council of Teachers of English, Promising New Researcher Award, the 2015 NCTE Alan C. Purves Award, the 2016 NCTE CEE Janet Emig awardee, and the 2017 Georgia State University Urban Education Research Awardee. More recently she was awarded the 2018 University of Illinois- Chicago, Researcher of the Year, and was awarded $750,000 by the U.S. Department of Education to study culturally and historically responsive literacy in STEM classrooms. Her book entitled, Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy was released in 2019.
Dr. Myers has an earned doctorate from the University of South Carolina in Columbia. Her dissertation study, “A Study of the Intersections of Race, Schooling, and Family Life in a Rural Black Community”, systematically investigated parents’ and teachers’ perspectives of parental involvement in their children’s literacy education. In it Dr. Myers argued that it matters more for teachers to be able to value different forms of parental support and parenting as valid and effective and then be able to use that knowledge to inform views of families and negotiate mutual support of students in and out of schools. This is important to note because it is her experience that educators of all races have been carefully taught to value certain forms of parental support while devaluing or not even recognizing other forms that are equally effective and necessary. Myers’ work points to the disjunctive interpretations about the ways that Black parents actually support their children, support that is often unrecognized or legitimized in mainstream discourses. Her work also indicates the need for educators to unlearn embedded institutional practices and beliefs of parental involvement and broaden their understandings of the many ways that minority families actually demonstrate their support for their children’s literacy education.
Dr. Sandra L Osorio is an assistant professor at Illinois State University in the School of Teaching and Learning. She teaches courses in early childhood and bilingual/English as a second language endorsement. She is a former bilingual educator who worked with children from diverse, racial, ethnic and linguistic backgrounds for 8 years. Her own personal narrative growing up bilingual and having a deficient-based identity placed upon her because of her linguistic differences has served as source of motivation to become an educator and researcher. Her dissertation study, Yo tengo algo que decir: Promoting Critical Literacy among Emergent Bilinguals was an action research study of her own second grade bilingual students’ discussions around multicultural literature. She found that through students’ own personal narratives they began to examine the familiar through new lenses. Dr. Osorio’s research continues to look at how children as well as pre-service teachers can develop critical consciousness.
Dr. Bilal Polson serves as an assistant principal of Northern Parkway Elementary School in Uniondale, NY. Upon graduation from the prestigious LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts, Bilal received his undergraduate degree from New York University. He studied Movement Therapy at University California of Los Angeles and holds degrees from Adelphi University in education and in educational administration from Hofstra University. Bilal received his doctoral degree in educational leadership at Hofstra University in May 2013. The National Council of Teachers of English recognized Dr. Polson for his pilot qualitative study, “Classroom Teacher Awareness of Students’ Literacy Lives,” at the 2010 NCTE national conference in Orlando, FL, by awarding him the CEE Diversity Grant. Bilal sits on to the Governing Board for the Early Childhood Education Assembly (ECEA) of National Council of Teachers of English (NTCE). In addition he has presented at American Educational Research Association (AERA), University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA), National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Annual Conventions and The Technical Assistance Center on disproportionality (TACD) Summer Institutes. Bilal has been selected as co-director for the PDCRT project, initiated by the Affirmative Action Committee of the Early Childhood Education Assembly (ECEA) of National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) for the cohort 2015-2017. Courageous Leadership a manuscript published by Teachers College Press (2016) features a book chapter co-authored by Bilal. He enjoys living in Bay Shore, NY with his wife Patty and sons, Aliasha and Malachi.
Dr. Detra Price-Dennis is an Associate Professor in Elementary Inclusive Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She brings 10 years of teaching experience to the professoriate, having served as an elementary teacher in urban and suburban school settings, a literacy coach, and a literacy consultant for the Children’s Defense Fund.
As a literacy teacher educator, Price-Dennis focuses her work on culturally relevant/sustaining digital literacy pedagogies that seek to create and sustain equitable classrooms for diverse student populations. Her research interests also include how to foster conversations about race and equity with elementary children and preservice teachers by incorporating children’s and young adult literature into the curriculum. Price-Dennis's work is featured in Action in Education, English Education, The Journal of Negro Education, and The Reading Teacher.
As a literacy teacher educator, Price-Dennis focuses her work on culturally relevant/sustaining digital literacy pedagogies that seek to create and sustain equitable classrooms for diverse student populations. Her research interests also include how to foster conversations about race and equity with elementary children and preservice teachers by incorporating children’s and young adult literature into the curriculum. Price-Dennis's work is featured in Action in Education, English Education, The Journal of Negro Education, and The Reading Teacher.
Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz is an Associate Professor of English Education at Teachers College, Columbia University and has worked with school districts around the country in an effort to improve the social and academic outcomes of all students for nearly a decade. Concerned with equity pedagogy, she works with teachers and administrators within K-12 settings in creating more culturally responsive and racially literate environments. Yolanda is the 2016 recipient of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Division K (Teaching and Teacher Education) Mid-Career Award, and a 2012-2013 Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Diversity Fellow. Her work has appeared in several refereed journals including Teachers College Record, Urban Education, Teaching English in a Two Year College (TETYC), English Quarterly, and The Journal of Negro Education. She is lead-editor of the book Teacher Education and Black Communities: Implications for Access, Equity, and Achievement (IAP). At Teachers College, she is founder and faculty sponsor of the Racial Literacy Roundtables Series where for eight years, national scholars, doctoral, and pre-service and in-service Master’s students facilitate informal conversations around race and other issues involving diversity and teacher education for the Columbia University community.
Dr. Mariana Souto-Manning is a professor at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is a former preschool and primary grades teacher and now works with teachers, schools, and districts throughout the world supporting their development of culturally relevant, multicultural, and critical teaching. She is committed to preparing teachers to design and carry out fully inclusive education, so that they can successfully work with young children with dis/abilities from low-income, immigrant, bilingual backgrounds in rich ways. Her workshops help teachers examine their own practices and develop strategies, approaches, and tools for successfully teaching all children. Workshop topics include: multicultural teaching strategies, examining race and racism in classrooms and schools, the teaching of reading and writing in diverse settings, and universally designing classrooms for English language learners, bilingual, and multilingual students. Mariana is author of the award-winning book Multicultural Teaching in the Early Childhood Classroom: Tools, Strategies and Approaches (Teachers College Press, 2013). Over the course of her career, she has received a number of awards, including the AERA Division K Innovations in Research on Diversity in Teacher Education Award.
Kamania Wynter-Hoyte is an assistant professor in Instruction and Teacher Education Department at the University of South Carolina. She is a co-editor for Perspectives and Provocations, a peer reviewed journal for Early Childhood Education Assembly of National Council Teachers of English. Her research interests are culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogy, African Diaspora literacy, and community literacy practices. Her work has been published in International Critical Childhood Policy Studies Journal, Race Ethnicity and Education, and Journal of Negro Education. She teaches courses in culturally relevant pedagogy, literacy methods, and parent/family dynamics with an emphasis on equity. Kamania is a recipient of 2018 Early Childhood Assembly’s Early Literacy Educator of the Year Award and College of Education’s 2017 Early Career Service Award. Prior to working in higher education, she was an elementary teacher for grades kindergarten through third in urban communities that are racially, linguistically, and economically diverse. Her scholarship, teaching, and service is anchored in issues of equity and Afrocentric teaching with young learners.
