Join Us! ELL Research Symposium

IDRA José A. Cárdenas School Finance Fellow Program Symposium: New Research on Securing Educational Equity & Excellence for English Language Learners in Texas Secondary School

View this invitation online 

February 2, 2015 • 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Our Lady of the Lake University, 411 SW 24th St., Providence Hall
Providence West Social Room, San Antonio, Texas 78207

Register Today! Seating is limited!

Join us for this research symposium where Dr. Oscar Jimenez-Castellanos, IDRA’s inaugural José A. Cárdenas School Finance Fellow, will present his research findings. An assistant professor in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University, Dr. Jimenez-Castellanos has published extensively in the area of K-12 education finance, policy and parent engagement and its impact on opportunity, equity and outcomes in low-income ethnically and linguistically diverse communities.

At this event, Dr. Jimenez-Castellanos will discuss his important and timely empirical study to examine the amount of supplemental funding that is required to effectively implement appropriate services for English language learners at the secondary level Texas.

Convened by the Intercultural Development Research Association

Hosted with the Center for Mexican American Studies and Research,
Our Lady of the Lake University

Agenda Overview

8:00 am – Registration

8:30 am – Symposium Opening

• María “Cuca” Robledo Montecel, Ph.D., President & CEO, IDRA
• Sister Jane Ann Slater, Ph.D., President, Our Lady of the Lake University
• Special Presentation, Laura Tobin Cárdenas

9:00 am – Research Presentation

• Albert Cortez, Ph.D., Director of Policy, IDRA
• Oscar Jimenez-Castellanos, Ph.D., Arizona State University, 2014 José A. Cárdenas School Finance Fellow

10:30 am – Discussants
A panel will reflect on key themes and questions raised by the research and explore important implications of the research for education quality and equity for English learners in policy and practice

Noon – Luncheon and Roundtable Discussions
Facilitators

• David G. Hinojosa, J.D., Southwest Regional Counsel, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF)
• Albert Kauffman, J.D., Professor of Law, St. Mary’s University
• Erika Prosper, M.A., Director of Consumer Insights, HEB Corporation
• Celina Moreno, J.D., Legislative Staff Attorney, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF)
• Ezequiel Peña, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology, Director, Center for Mexican American Studies & Research at Our Lady of the Lake University
• Pauline Dow, Ph.D., Chief Academic Officer for the Austin Independent School District
• Andre Guerrero, Ph.D., Arkansas Department of Education Programs for Language Minority Students Director (retired)

1:30 pm – Synthesized Report Out (Roundtable Facilitator Panel)

2:15 pm – Parting Thoughts

• María “Cuca” Robledo Montecel, Ph.D., President & CEO, IDRA
• Student Guest

2:30 – End

We will webcast the proceedings to partner organizations around the country through web-watch parties and anticipate great interest in this work. The research findings and topics explored in the symposium will be of keen interest to scholars, students, policymakers and advocates nationally.

José A. Cárdenas School Finance Fellows Program

IDRA established the José A. Cárdenas School Finance Fellows Program in 2013 to honor the memory of IDRA founder, Dr. José Angel Cárdenas. The goal of the program is engage the nation’s most promising researchers in investigating school finance solutions that secure equity and excellence for all public school students.

Register Today! Seating is limited!

Watch online. If you can’t attend in person, you can stream some or all of the proceedings live. Find out how you can host a watch party.

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2014 José A. Cárdenas School Finance Fellow – Dr. Oscar Jimenez-Castellanos

IDRA has named Dr. Oscar Jimenez-Castellanos to be our 2014 José A. Cárdenas School Finance Fellow for this inaugural year of the program, which we have established to honor the memory of IDRA founder, Dr. José Angel Cárdenas. The goal of the program is engage the nation’s most promising researchers in investigating school finance solutions that secure equity and excellence for all public school students.

“Dr. José A. Cárdenas dedicated his life to improving educational opportunities for all children, leading decades-long efforts to achieve school finance equity,” said Dr. María “Cuca” Robledo Montecel, IDRA president. “Research is needed as we continue our work to move to fair funding and opportunity for all students. We are so pleased to have named Dr. Jimenez-Castellanos as our first fellow to advance this research.”

“I am honored and humbled in receiving the inaugural IDRA José A. Cárdenas School Finance Fellowship award to conduct research to improve the funding for the most vulnerable populations while striving toward equity and excellence,” Dr. Jimenez-Castellanos said.

An assistant professor in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University, Dr. Jimenez-Castellanos has published extensively in the area of K-12 education finance, policy and parent engagement and its impact on opportunity, equity and outcomes in low-income ethnically and linguistically diverse communities. He received his master’s degree in policy studies from San Diego State University and his doctorate in education from Claremont Graduate University. His work has been published in academic journals, such as Review of Educational Research, Bilingual Research Journal, Educational Considerations, and Journal of Latinos and Education. He is lead editor of the Association of Mexican American Educators (AMAE) Journal. Dr. Jimenez-Castellanos is a 2012 Ford Postdoctoral Fellow administered by the National Research Council of the National Academies. He was bestowed the honor of a Fulton Professor in 2011 and served as Arizona’s Acting Director of the University Research Council (URC) in Education.  

As IDRA’s 2014 José A. Cárdenas School Finance Fellow, Dr. Jimenez-Castellanos will conduct an important and timely empirical study to examine the amount of supplemental funding above the base funding level that is required to effectively implement appropriate services for English language learners at the secondary level in the State of Texas. More than 11 million school-age children speak a language other than English at home, and Texas enrolls the second largest population of K-12 English language learners. IDRA has been at the forefront in supporting legislative and litigation efforts to address the insufficient funding for education ELLs in Texas and the poor monitoring and implementation of programs serving ELLs at the secondary level.
IDRA’s fellowship was established to focus on and fund school finance research that builds cross-disciplinary and inter-sector perspectives on equity. Fellows dedicate themselves to a period of intense study and writing in school finance, with the effort culminating in an annual symposium that includes release of the fellow’s program paper. The paper and findings will be published in the symposium proceedings and disseminated to the education research and policymaker community throughout the country.