The Development of a Districtwide Ethnic Studies Education Program in Los Angeles

• In Event: Ethnic Studies Education across Tovaangar

Abstract

Through ethnographic narratives, this presentations tells the story of how educators in the Hacienda La
Puente Unified School District collaborated with community members, youth, families, and leaders to
launch the inaugural Intersectional Ethnic Studies class. This collaborative work laid the foundation to
co-build a district wide program. The process of co-creating specific units of study, projects, and
experiential learning opportunities will be shared along with the creation of a course reader
independently published. We discuss the ways in which the five educators co-designed an Intersectional
Ethnic Studies course that maintained a critical stance. To understand this process, our autoethnographic
narrative builds from the following: Veteran teachers’ reflections on the training process that they went
through that included transformative opportunities, critical reflections that led to needed changes to the
course in the second and third year, and ongoing expansion of new courses that further grew the district
wide program. Inspired by AERA’s theme, we reflect on the necessary and at times contentious work by
offering “tools and wisdom for navigating tensions and challenges” with building an intersectional
Ethnic Studies program for an entire district. This presentations provides key insights for localized and
place-based approaches to critical Ethnic Studies Education and an Ethnic Studies Education that is
responsive to communities We conclude highlighting youth participatory action research projects and
lessons learned from past and contemporary struggles for critical ethnic studies in our district and
beyond.

Authors

• Ron Espiritu, Hacienda La Puente Unified School District

• Christine Sardo-Aska, Hacienda La Puente Unified School District