November 2022 • Issue 62 • California Association for Bilingual Education
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Biliteracy, Multicultural Competency, and Educational Equity for All! |
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This month, join us in observing and celebrating...
(Click each image for more information and resources.)
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What's new in Sacramento that impacts education? Find out here... |
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CABE Legislative Advocate Report
by Jennifer Baker
- November Election: Ballot Propositions
- Assembly Budget Hearings
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Attention, Parents and Paraeducators! Registration now open... |
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MCAP Digital Academies are free, self-paced, and asynchronous... |
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Are you or someone you know interested in becoming a bilingual teacher? Are there people in your school and community who would be great educators? classified staff who have faced obstacles to getting their credential? Bilingual families or community members who know the power of bilingual education and are looking to be more involved?
The Bilingual Teacher Pathway program can help navigate the steps and opportunities available for future bilingual educators!
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Join us in person! Register by Nov 15th for Extra Early Bird $avings... |
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CABE members also receive a 15% discounted registration! |
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Meet Dr. Alma Castro, CABE Director of the Multilingual California Project |
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The Castro family planted roots over 35 years ago in the city of Lynwood. Dr. Alma Carina Castro is the third of nine siblings and was raised in a loving, caring family by her parents Guadalupe and Toribio Castro, who embrace their cultural and linguistic roots. However, this was not the case in the public school system, which saw these as deficits, not assets. In elementary school, Dr. Castro remembers wrestling with issues of identity and struggling to express herself in the English language. |
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This sense of devalued humanity for using her home language ignited a fire in Dr. Castro, growing deeper throughout her school years in Lynwood. A tipping point for her was 1994's Proposition 187, which denied immigrants access to public services and inculcated fear. These injustices against her family and community led her down a journey of advocacy and “Lucha,” becoming a public school servant/leader. Dr. Castro says, “I was a little activist organizing without even knowing it!” Dr. Castro, school friends, and teachers organized and joined her sister Lourdes, a student at UCLA, in a protest against these injustices on the 105 freeway in Lynwood. These protests were highlighted in the 2019 LAist article, “How 'An Attack On Us Brown People' 25 Years Ago Created A New Generation Of Activists.
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Dr. Castro came to understand that to make an impact and uplift language and cultural assets, she needed to have a voice at the table, earning her BA in Sociology, a Master’s in Education at UCLA, a Master’s in School Administration from CSU Dominguez, and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership at CSU Long Beach. Dr. Castro began her professional career as an elementary and middle school teacher in LAUSD and later became an associate principal. She served in public schools for 20 years before joining CABE in 2019 as the Director of the Multilingual California Project (MCAP), a statewide Educator Workforce Investment Grant (EWIG). Dr. Castro has become more intentionally engaged in legislative advocacy for multilingual students. Her work with CABE and MCAP allows her to address inequities and ensure all students are validated. |
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Dr. Castro values collaborative relationships that impact educational policies. Today, she serves as a School Board Member at Lynwood USD, where she and her eight siblings attended. This full-circle experience was featured in this CSBA video. She enjoys teaching at the university, preparing pre-service and master’s level educators in the dual language program at CSU Long Beach. Dr. Castro asserts, “I never want us to go back to those times when culture and heritage language in school were oppressed and, in many ways, erased. Strong ties to my pueblo Juchitlán, Jalisco, Mexico, have influenced the work I do today in valuing Nuestra Gente, our communities.”
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To balance life, Dr. Castro enjoys cooking mole for her family while listening to mariachi music, creating memories with her 26 nieces and nephews, and watching her daughter Xiomara play softball. Dr. Castro is most happy traveling with Xiomara and her team to Mexico to compete in Escaramuza Charra, a traditional Mexican equestrian sport. She dreams of someday opening “Alma’s Boutique,” which would supply professional attire and career coaching, mentoring, and support to women in disadvantaged communities.
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Meet Dr. Raúl Maldonado, CABE Board President-Elect... |
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Born in Santa Fe, a small town in Jalisco, Mexico, Dr.Raúl Maldonado immigrated with his family at the age of four to the US, where he grew up in Idaho with four siblings. Because his father worked for the Bracero program, they moved a lot in the early years and later settled in LA. When he started school as an English learner, he remembers being good at math but struggling with literacy in a school with no English learner or bilingual programs. Once he started learning English, he remembers quickly becoming the family’s official translator for all their public interactions. |
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As a fifth-grader, Raúl was determined to learn to read and write in his home language, Spanish, which he accomplished independently. As his biliteracy improved, he started excelling and, in 10th grade, moved from an ESL setting to mainstream classes where he learned that he could compete and be successful. He reflects that this experience improved his self-esteem, and he no longer felt “less than” his peers. In 12th grade, he decided to join the army, but his counselor encouraged him to go to college instead. At CSU LA, he majored in education with an emphasis on Chicano studies and, after graduation, landed his first teaching job as a 3rd-grade teacher in South Central LA. |
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Dr. Maldonado explains his career pathway, “I wanted to move into administration, so I had to move around to advance my career.” That career includes teaching 2nd and 5th grades and serving as assistant principal and principal in various districts. He later moved to Palmdale, serving as the Director of Biliteracy and Migrant Education and Director of Assessments. In 2013, he became the Superintendent at McFarland USD and returned to Palmdale USD a year later, where he has served as Superintendent for the last eight years. |
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A CABE member for over 25 years, Dr. Maldonado has served on the Board as the Finance Director and is currently president-elect. He says, “I’m inspired by all the great things that CABE has accomplished and the services it provides to students, parents, teachers, and administrators.” He describes himself as always a teacher-at-heart who loves working with students and parents. He is proud to be the first in his family to graduate with a BA, MA, and Ed.D. At the time of this interview, Raul had just received his doctorate in Educational Leadership from CSU Bakersfield. |
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Raul lives on a small ranch in Palmdale with his wife of thirty years, Isabel, a bilingual paraprofessional. They have four children: daughter Nayeli (27), who works for a Hollywood studio; son Missael (26), a teacher; and twin boys (24), Miguel, an engineer; and Saul, a financial advisor. Raúl likes to ride his three horses Charro-style with friends in his free time, often participating in parades. He also enjoys traveling to Mexico to visit family, reading in Spanish, and playing with his three working Australian cattle dogs, Chata, Frida, and Canela. |
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Learn about what's happening in local CABE Chapters.... |
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Join us this Saturday, November 5th! Click below to register... |
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The CABE Yolo/Woodland Chapter 76 Board met this month to discuss the following events for this school year:
Fundraisers
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Pozole Drive-Thru Pick-Up Breakfast on Saturday, Dec 10, 2022. This will be our first event for our High School Scholarship Fundraiser for this school year.
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Dinner at La Casa Rosita on Saturday, May 6, 2023. Dinner tickets will be sold in advance. There will also be fundraiser raffle baskets.
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Bridge to Teaching:
One of CABE Yolo/Woodland Chapter 76’s primary goals is to ensure that our local high school students have information on bilingual teacher pathway programs. Chapter 76 is working on coordinating a Saturday or evening event for this Spring where students, community members, and local CABE Chapters can access and discuss information about the bilingual teacher pipeline offered by local districts, the County Office of Education, the community college, teacher education programs, and other programs.
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Under the leadership of Dr. María Hernández, Chapter President and ELLLI Advocate, Ventura County educators from grades PreK-12, college and university students, and parents came together to reconnect and promote best practices in the education of English learners and migrant students. César Morales, Ventura County Superintendent of Schools, provided welcoming remarks, and Martha Hernández, Executive Director of Californians Together, delivered the keynote address focused on the importance of advocacy and never giving up. (Adapted from Californians Together monthly newsletter, October 2022)
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We are happy to announce we have a newly elected North Orange County Chapter Board. Please join us in welcoming Nicole Chávez (President), Claudia Mercado (Vice President), Jessie & Juan Álvarez (Joint Secretaries), and Lily Bataz (Treasurer).
Together, we are committed to reinvigorating Orange County, highlighting the great work being done in Orange County that aligns with CABEs vision. Stay tuned for membership, networking, and learning opportunities coming your way!
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CABTE Leadership Changes—New officers:
▪ President: Eduardo Muñoz- Muñoz (San Jose State University)
▪ Treasurer: Adam Sawyer (CSU Bakersfield) for 2022-2024.
▪ Secretary: Reyna García Ramos (Pepperdine University)
▪ New Board members for 2022-2023: Laura Alvarez (Saint Mary’s College), Fernando Rodriguez-Valls (CSU Fullerton), and Fay Shin (CSU Long Beach)
AB1701: CABTE is disappointed about not receiving this grant. CABTE hopes to work with CABE and CalTog to pursue funding for hiring bilingual faculty for BiAu programs. For future grant purposes, CABTE hopes to expand and include independent colleges and universities.
Reading Instruction Performance Assessment group (led by Allison Briceno (San Jose State), Clara Amador-Lankster (National University), and Magaly Lavadenz (Loyola Marymount University):
▪ CABTE has taken an active role in assuring that the commission on Teacher Credentialing’s reading instruction performance assessment working group includes several active CABTE members and friends who can assure that the interests of bilingual students are represented in the state’s assessment of teacher candidates’ preparation in reading instruction.
▪ CABTE hopes to see our CABTE/CalTog leaders placed on the design team for the assessment, which begins next month and works until 2025, when the Literacy Performance Assessment is put into use. ▪ We had a productive discussion on September 23, 2022, on Ch.6: Helping or Being Helped? The influence of Raciolinguistic Ideologies on Parental Involvement in Dual Immersion (Jazmin Muro)
▪ Any CABTE members are welcome to join the book club.
CABTE Book Club: We meet monthly to discuss books related to Bilingual Education. We are almost done reflecting on the book titled: Bilingualism for All? Raciolinguistic Perspective on Dual Language Education in the U.S. (edited by Nelson Flores, Amelia Tsend & Nicholas Subtirelu)
CABTE Presence at CCTE Fall22 Conference: CABTE held its annual meeting at CCTE this fall with virtual and in-person participants. The 2022-25 Strategic Plan was shared, and all were invited to help shape its goals and purpose. We invite all to become a member of CABTE through your institution and/or individual membership. For more information, send us an email at cabte2021@gmail.com.
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Elections—CABE Pepperdine is currently in an election cycle to elect a new slate of student officers. Installation will happen virtually on 11/29. Join us!
Día de Los Muertos—CABE Pepperdine, along with the Latino Psychological Student Association (LSPA) and the Pepperdine Libraries, worked on constructing an Ofrenda for Día de Los Muertos on 11/29 at the WLA Graduate Campus library. Display completed by past president Linda Guzman and past secretary Norma Guzman, both of which are now GSEP alum and completed their doctorates.
Congratulations!—Dr. García Ramos is now secretary for CABE Affiliate, CABTE, and is also filling in as Region 3 Representative on the CABE Board. She is happy to be working with such amazing individuals.
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Other items of interest to the CABE Community... |
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The California Collaborative for Educational Excellence (CCEE) and its Administrative Agent, the Marin County Office of Education, has issued a Request for Proposals for Professional Learning Services on behalf of the Community Engagement Initiative on November 1, 2022. Details on the RFP are now available on the CCEE website.
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Click the videos above to learn more about the RE:BORDER 2022 conference. To register for free, click below: |
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New!
NCEL Podcasts on
Effective Literacy
Listen to the Effective Literacy Podcast via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and YouTube
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