Associate Professor of special education, educational psychology & urban community teacher education and founder of Pathways2Teaching

*NOTE: In-person attendance is mandatory for NIEPRR Fellowl. NITEP Fellows and NV-EPIC students (PPP & AARL) in Clark County may attend virtually.

*VIDEO RECORDING NOTICE: Please note that this event is being recorded. All or portions of the event recording may be shared through UNLV’s digital channels. By attending this event, you consent to your name, voice, and/or image being recorded and consent to UNLV to reproduce, distribute and otherwise display the recording within its sole discretion.  Individuals who do not want their identities to be captured are responsible for alerting event organizers to provide off-camera accommodations. 

To meet the needs of the fast-growing number of Latino/a English learners, this volume presents an approach to secondary education teacher preparation based on the work of the National Latino/a Education Research and Policy Project (NLERAP). Renowned scholar and educator Angela Valenzuela, together with an impressive roster of contributors, provides a critical framework for educating culturally responsive teachers.

They examine the knowledge, skills, and predispositions required for higher education institutions to create curricula for educating Latino/a children, children of color, and language-minority youth. Growing Critically Conscious Teachers illuminates why growing our own teachers makes sense as an approach for not only addressing the achievement gap, but for also enhancing the well-being of our communities as a whole.

Dr. Margarita Bianco is an Associate Professor in the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Colorado Denver. Professor Bianco teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in special education, educational psychology and urban community teacher education. Prior to joining the faculty at CU Denver, Dr. Bianco worked as a K-12 classroom teacher for more than 20 years in public and private schools in the US and overseas.

Dr. Bianco is a first generation college graduate. She draws on these rich personal and professional experiences to inform her work.

Dr. Bianco is also the Founder and Executive Director of Pathways2Teaching, an innovative pre-collegiate program designed to encourage high school students of color to enter the teacher workforce as a way to disrupt educational inequities.

Professor Bianco’s research examines diversifying the teacher workforce by implementing pre-collegiate teacher pathway programs for high school students of color. She also investigates the effects of deficit thinking and denied opportunities for underrepresented gifted students (students of color and students with disabilities). Her commitment to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is a unifying theme that is interwoven throughout all aspects of her research, teaching, service and consulting work.

Keynote Address

Rachel Stepina currently works for the Nevada Department of Education, Office of Early Learning and Development as the Grant Manager for the Preschool Development Grant Birth through 5. Additionally, she has fulfilled a part-time position in the Washoe County School District as a K-5 Bilingual Interventionist in Jessie Beck Elementary School’s Dual Language Education program for the past five years. Rachel earned her M.Ed. in Bilingual Early Childhood Education from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in 2022, her M.A. in Foreign Languages and Literatures in Spanish from the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) in 2016, and her B.A in Journalism in 2011.

Breakout Session:
“Beyond English Learners: Multilingual Education Strategies for Monolingual Settings “

During this session pre-service teachers will reflect on the term “English Learner” within Nevada’s education system, examine implicit bias around language and identity, and discover multilingual education strategies that authentically support all students in monolingual classroom settings. Participants will leave with statewide and national resources to continue their own exploration of this theme and network with other educators in the field.

Nicole Hidalgo has been teaching Spanish at a rural high school in Northern Nevada for 8 years. Her first year of teaching, she taught Academic English for English Language Learners at an urban middle school in Northern Nevada. She has a Ph.D. in Education, specializing in the Social and Cultural Contexts of Education.

Breakout Session:
“Critical Hope in the Classroom”

This session describes a teacher’s journey towards cultivating critical hope in three secondary classroom contexts, including a college preparation program, a middle school classroom for English Language Learners, and a high school Spanish classroom. When teachers nurture students’ sense of critical hope, it helps young people become agents of personal and social change. The ultimate level of advocating for students is teaching them to advocate for themselves and others.

*NOTE: In-person attendance is mandatory for NIEPRR Fellows; Virtual Attendance + participation in engagement activities on Slack is required for NV-EPIC (PPP & AARL) students and NITEP Fellows.