The National Latino/a Education Research Agenda Project (NLERAP) an organization of experienced education researchers with an emphasis on Latino/a education. The project is a collaborative effort with people from several universities across the United States. NLERAP conducted focus groups nationwide to determine the issues Latino/a families face and the implications for education.

In
 2000,
 a 
national
 network 
of 
educators, 
community 
activists,
 university 
scholars,
 and 
other
 educational 
stakeholders
within
the
broader 
Latino/a 
community
 joined 
to
 form
 the 
National 
Latino
 Education
 Research
 Agenda
 Project
 (NLERAP). 

The
 purpose 
was 
to
 engage 
in 
a 
consensus‐building 
dialogue
 concerning 
the 
educational 
crisis 
confronting 
our
 communities 
across 
this 
nation 
and,
 in
 particular, 
an 
actionable 
research 
agenda
 that
 would 
address 
this 
reality. 

After
 a 
series 
of 
regional
 meetings, 
NLERAP’s 
National 
Advisory
 Board 
developed 
and 
published 
a 
research
 agenda 
(NLERAP,
 2003)
 that 
outlines 
the
 framework
 for
 the 
use 
of 
participatory
 and
 collaborative
 research 
approaches 
focused 
on
 influencing
 the 
experiences,
 progress, 
and
 outcomes
 of
 schooling 
for
 Latino/a 
youth.

 In
 addition 
to
 the
 research
 agenda 
document, 
the
 project
 also 
produced 
an
 academic 
volume
 (Pedraza 
and 
Rivera, 
2005) 
that 
outlines  
a
 community 
approach 
to
 the 
investigation 
of
 schooling
 for
 Latinos/as. 

In 
conjunction
 with
 the
 release 
of 
this 
volume, 
a 
press 
conference
 was 
held 
in 
Washington, 
D.C. 
that 
addressed
 an 
array
 of
 concerns
 related 
to 
Latino/a
 educational 
outcomes 
(Viadero,
 2005).

 All 
of
 this 
prior 
work 
culminates 
and 
finds
 expression 
in 
a 
decision 
made 
by 
NLERAP’s 
National
 Advisory
 Board 
on 
January 
31, 
2009,
 to
 pursue
 a 
national‐level 
initiative 
termed
 the
 Teacher 
Education
 Institute
 (TEI) 
initiative. Since Fall 2009 the  Texas Center for Educational Policy, under the direction of Dr. Angela Valenzuela, has housed the NLERAP national office. Regional work is underway that is centered around the following six states:  Texas, Arizona, California, Wisconsin, Illinois, and New York.

This blog is developed by, and for, participants in NLERAP’s Northeast Regional (NLERAP-NE) group.  Our regional director is Pedro Pedraza (ppedraza@hunter.cuny.edu), from Hunter College, City University of New York and the Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños

Relevant Sources:

  • Pedro Pedraza, Melissa Rivera, and National Latino/a Education Research and Policy Project, Latino education: An agenda for community action research (Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2005).  Available at: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780805849875/

One thought on “About Us

  • September 25, 2017 at 9:51 am
    Permalink

    I am grateful to Dr. Angela Valenzuela who told me about your most important organization. I am an elder, and was just admitted to CU Denver Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership in Latina@ Communities. Anything to do with educational policies and Latinx and Native Americans…I want to learn more about

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

 OpenCUNY » login | join | terms | activity 

 Supported by the CUNY Doctoral Students Council.  

OpenCUNY.ORGLike @OpenCUNYLike OpenCUNY