Conference

Education Across the Americas

Every year, ALAS organizes a conference that brings professors, scholars, students, and activitists together to address educational issues pertaining to the Latin American and Caribbean Diaspora. Our annual conference aims to create academic, cultural, and social networks reuniting the Latin American community at Teachers College as well as individuals and scholars interested in Latin American issues.

2008 Conference

ALAS is pleased to announce our 6th Annual Education Across the Americas Conference, titled Educational Equity, Policy, and Transformation in the Americas.

Place and Time

Friday, March 14th and Saturday, March 15th, 2008. Teachers College, Columbia University

Registration

REGISTRATION IS FREE. Please register online at:Conference Registration

Please note: You may attend all or part of the conference.

Conference Program

 

Friday, March 14th, 2008

Registration

All day, outside TH-136 and in GD-177

Book, Student Organizations, and Handicraft Display

All day, outside TH-136 and in GD-177

Refreshments

All day, outside TH-136 and in GD-177

9:30-10:30 am
Rm:
TH-136

10:30-10:45 am
Rm: TH-136

Registration and breakfast


Opening
Thomas Trebat ALAS Faculty Sponsor and Executive Director of the Institute of Latin American Studies and of the Institute's Center for Brazilian Studies
Rosario Torres-Guevara, ALAS President

11:00-12:30 am  Rm: TH-136

Panel 1: Where Does "Education" Take Place for the Latino Population? Academic Achievement of Latino Students in the U.S.

1. Hip Hop graffiti writing in the classroom. Yarrow Lutz, Art and Design Education, The Pratt Institute.

2. The impact and role of subtle racism and racial microagressions on Latino college student persistence. Blanca E. Vega, Teachers College, Columbia University.

3. Dominican immigrant adolescents racial identity. Cesar Fernandez, Teachers College, Columbia University.

4. Mentoring Latinas: A school/university collaborative project on the impact of gender and culture in the lives of adolescent Hispanic girls. Ellen S. Silber and Daisy Torres, Fordham University Graduate School of Social Services.

Discussant: Prof. Lesley Bartlett, International Educational Development, Teachers College, Columbia Unviersity

12:45am-2:00 pm
Rm: TH-136

Panel 2: Institutional Sustainability and Teacher Efficacy in the Americas

1. Promoters and depleters of high teacher efficacy in Salta, Argentina. Catarina Rivera and Susan Wynn, Duke University.

2. . Creating and expanding networks of critical educators. Matthew Block, Chike Aguh, Michael Klein, Ajeet Matharu, and Noah Green. Critical Educator Forum, Teach for America./i>

3. The Brazilian Education Quality Index (IDEB): Measurement and incentive upgrades. Gabriel Buchmann (Co-author and presenter) and Marcelo Cortes Neri (Co-author), Centro de Politicas Sociais (CPS) and Deparment of Economics of EPGEFGV-RJ, Fundacao Getulio Vargas, Rio dde Janeiro.

Discussant:Paul Neira, Doctoral Candidate, Curriculum and Teaching, Teachers College, Columbia University.

2:00-3:00 pm

Rm: TH-136

Lunch

3:15-4:30
Rm:
GD-179

NYCDOE school assessment: student performance and accountability.


Santiago Taveras, Executive Director, School Quality, New York City Department of Education's Office of Accountability

Discussant: Marcelo De Estefano, Manager of School-Based Health Centers at the New York City Department of Education.

4:45-5:45 pm
Rm: GDH-179

Fostering Educational Leadership in Argentina

1. Youth's life project and college access in Suburban Buenos Aires.

2. Solidarity of knowledge, professional's networks and educational leadership in Argentina's 2001 Crisis

Alejandro M. Estevez, Associate Professor, Administration and Public Policy, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina (co-author and presenter).
Guillermo Marini, Teachers College, Columbia University (co-author and presenter).
Susana Asper, Director and Principal Researcher, PoliPub.org, Argentina (co-author).
Justo Carbajales, National Coordinator, Health Professional's Network, Argentina (co-author)

Discussant: Marcelo De Estefano, Manager of School-Based Health Centers at the New York City Department of Education.

6:00-6:45: pm
Rm: GDH-179

Educational Equity, Policy, and Transformation in the Americas: Facing the New Reality of Immigration, Education, and Development.

Ambassador Ruben Beltran, General Consul Mexico in New York.

Introduced by: Rosario Torres-Guevara, ALAS President

Discussant: Carmina Makar, Doctoral Candidate, International Educational Development, Teachers College, Columbia University

7:00-8:00 pm Rm: GD-179

ALAS Special Presentation on Art and Education
Art Exhibit featuring Katie DelaVaughn and her students' work

Youth exploring their identities through photograph and writing. Katie DelaVaughn, Teachers College, Columbia University.

Introduced by: Guillermo Marini, Doctoral Candidate, Philosophy and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University

7:00-8:00 pm
Rm: GD-179

Art Exhibit with Wine and Cheese reception

Saturday, March 15th, 2008

Registration

All day, GD-177

Book, Student Organizations, and handicraft Display

All day, GD-177

Art Display

All day, GD-177 / 179

Refreshments

All day, GD-177

9:00-10.00 am
Rm: GD-177

Breakfast

(Closed ALAS roundtable, GD179)

10:00-12:00
Rm: GD-179

Panel 3: Popular Education, Peace Education and Transnational Learning: Activism and Community-Based Initiatives.

1. Teaching peace: Using the Peace Games Model to empower young peacemakers in Colombia. Silvia Diazgranados-Ferrans, Project Coordinator Peace Games Inc, and James Noonan, National Program Specialist Peace Games Inc.

 2. Bridging the education gap for Latino students: How the Geneseis Foundation can target its grant making for greater effectiveness. Jenny Shapiro, The New School of Management and Urban Policy and the Genesis Foundation.

The Role of Genesis Foundation to Improve the Quality of Education in Colombia. Cristina Gutierrez de Pineres, Representative for Colombia and Programs Director, Genesis Foundation.

4. Community education program: promoting peace amidst violence in Colombia. Ryan Burges, Teachers College, Columbia University.

5. Salir adelante: How Latino families encourage their children to be successful. Christal G. Burnett, Teachers College, Columbia University.

Discussant: Discussant: Dina Lopez, Doctoral Candidate, International Educational Development, Teachers College, Columbia University.


12:15-1:45 pm
Rm: GD-179

Panel 4: Curriculum, School Effectiveness, and Educational Technology in Ibero-America and the Caribbean

1. School effectiveness in Maissade, Haiti. Emily Miksic, Center for Collaboration and the Future of Schooling, Save the Children (SC), and Teachers College, Columbia University.

2. Pioneering efforts in ICT and development: A case study of the Riecken Foundation in Honduras. Molly McMahon, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University.

3. Education reform in the Dominican Republic: Current realities and future responsibilities. Maison Rippeteau, New York University.

4. Rethinking curriculum policy: The case of Middle School education in Peru. Paul Neira, Teachers College, Columbia University, and Heidi Rodrich Suares de Freitas, Grupo de Analisis para el Desarrollo (GRADE).

5. Addressing the challenges of the European Union educational policy in Spain: Homologation in higher education. Miguel Hector Fernandez-Carrion, Professor and Researcher, Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

Discussant: Rosario Torres-Guevara, ALAS President

1:30-2:30
Rm: GD 177 / 179

Lunch

2:30-4:00 pm
Rm: Milbank Chapel

Panel 5: Educational Policy and Implementation across the Americas: Equity or Equality in Educational Access

1. Policy paradox: How Bloomberg's small school movement undermines immigrant education and what can be done about it. Nelson Flores, CUNY Graduate Center, Urban Education.

2. Closing the achievement gap: Race, ethnicity, class, gender, and the Pipeline education for underrepresented students. Jodie G. Roure. Assistant Professor, Puerto Rican and Latin American Studies, John Jay College of Criminal Justice at CUNY.

3. Improving primary education for the Guatemalan Maya. Deborah Greebon, Syracuse University.

4. Educating Mexico's indigenous minority redefining quality and access. Katherine A. Merseth, Harvard Graduate School of Education.

5. Diversity beyond the passport: Limitations of nationality sensitive admissions policies in the U.S. Law schools. John Carmona, Yale Law School.

Discussant: Prof. Milagros Nores, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Public Policy, Alfred Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions, Brown University

4:15-5:00 pm
Rm: GD-179









Movie Screening: "The Sixth Section"
A
documentary by independent filmmaker:

Introduced by Jorge Cifuentes, Educational Leadership, Teachers College, Columbia University
With a post-movie dialogue to discuss the issues addressed in the documentary.

This Documentary depicts the transnational organizing of a community of Mexican immigrants in New York. The men profiled in the film formed an organization called "Grupo Union", which is devoted to raising money in the United States to rebuild the Mexican town they've left behind. Grupo Union is one of at least a thousand "hometown associations" formed by Mexican immigrants in the United States, and they are beginning to have a major impact in the politics and economics of both the U.S. and Mexico. The Sixth Section is the first documentary to tell this story.

5:00-5:45 pm
Rm: GD-179

 

Latin American Diaspora through Migration in a Globalized World: Women, Borders, and Migration

Prof. Maria Da Gloria Celia Marroni. Instituto de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades de la Benemerita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla, Mexico.

Discussant: Discussant: Isabel Martinez, Doctoral Candidate, Sociology and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University.


6:00-6:45 pm
Rm: GD-179

Closing Ceremony

Immigration, Gender, and Education.

Prof. Regina Cortina. International Educational Development, Teachers College, Columbia University.

Discussant: Discussant: Isabel Martinez, Doctoral Candidate, Sociology and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University.

7:00-11:00 pm
Rm: TC Courtyard
(If rain, TC Cafeteria)

Closing and outdoor reception

Rosario Torres-Guevara, ALAS President, and Prof. Lesley Bartlett, ALAS Faculty Sponsor

Latin Party!!

Live Latin Music Band performance:
Band: BAMBA NY!

Dinner and drinks will be served

Supporters

ALAS' annual conference is made possible by generous support from: The President's Community and Diversity Grant Fund, the Program of Economics and Education, the Student Senate, and the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education at Teachers College, as well as the Institute of Latin American Studies and the Latin American Student Association at SIPA.