Contact:

Richard Van Dongen, 277-7783 Laurie Mellas-Ramirez, 277-5915

March 12, 2002

STATE POLICY MAKERS TO TAKE PART IN MULTICULTURAL CURRICULUM PANEL AT UNM COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

What guides New Mexico curriculum decisions? What are the implications and consequences of those decisions in a state with many diverse and low achieving learners? New Mexico State Representative Rick Miera, President of the State Board of Education Flora Sanchez and Assistant Superintendent for the State Department of Education's Learning Services Unit Tony Trujillo will participate in a Curriculum Policy Panel Wednesday, March 20, from 4:30 to 6:45 p.m. at the University of New Mexico College of Education Technology Center, room 201.

Due to limited space, the presentation is not open to the public.

Lois Meyer, Ph.D, plans the panel as part of the UNM COE graduate course "Curriculum Development in Multicultural Education."

"The course has taken as its central problem the questions, "What is an appropriate multicultural curriculum for New Mexico's diversity? And who decides the goals, content, strategies and evaluation of such a curriculum?" Meyer said. "I hope this will be an effective exercise to encourage significant and critical reflection about educational issues and curriculum policy directions in this very diverse state."

The dialogue will begin with key questions posed by several respondents including Paula Papponi, Ph.D, superintendent of Jemez Valley School District, Leila Flores-Dueñas, Ph.D., bilingual faculty in the COE Department of Language, Literacy and Sociocultural Studies (LLSS), and Glenabah Martinez, Ph.D., acting chair of Native American Studies and LLSS lecturer.

Questions that will be posed to the panel have been generated by the graduate students in the course and will include:

· What are your top three concerns for diverse learners in New Mexico?
· How are local communities, especially Native American, Hispanic or immigrant communities, encouraged and enabled to voice concerns and actively participate in the education they want for their children?
· President Bush's education plan is exerting pressure for a unified, educational priorities and standards and increased national testing. Do you agree or disagree with the plan?
· Are you concerned that a national standardized test will be culturally and regionally biased and therefore negatively affect New Mexico's diverse learners?
· How will funding for immigrant, foreign and Title Vii through one block grant change the way students in New Mexico will receive/experience services?
· What are your views concerning charter schools and vouchers for New Mexico? How are you working for or against them? "

Meyer said a new report by the Albuquerque Partnership concludes that the achievement gap between minorities and Anglos in New Mexico schools is continuing to widen. "Last year's Anglo fifth grader's scored 51.6 percent higher than their Hispanic classmates," Meyer said. "In the face of these continuing inequities in schooling, the College of Education must help educators and the public to raise important questions about New Mexico's curriculum policy: What future do we want and what future are we willing to create for our multicultural and multilingual student population? Will New Mexico's unique history as a multicultural and multilingual state end with the present sweeping tide of national standards and homogenous priorities and expectations? And most fundamentally, who will decide these critical questions for the diverse children and communities of New Mexico?"

COE Associate Dean Richard Van Dongen said the college sets the stage for a grounded discussion.

"Participation in the educational profession of today perhaps more than ever demands engagement on many fronts. Bringing teachers, policy makers and others with diverse perspectives together encourages the kind of debate that is needed," he said.

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The University of New Mexico
Public Affairs Department
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Telephone: (505) 277-5813
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