“LISTENING TO STUDENT VOICES: A WORKING PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT”
“Listening to Student Voices: A Working Participatory Action Research Project” is bringing together higher education faculty that include Marco Antonio Cruz from The National Hispanic University, Dr. Chris Knaus of UC Berkeley and Dr. Marcos Pizarro from San Jose State University to work with university and high school-level students as they develop their voice and share their own understandings of the school issues they face as Latinas/os in San Jose schools. The project intends to shed light on the students’ perspective on effective strategies for engaging Latina/Latino high school students as learners and in their pursuit of higher education. The Dr. B. Roberto Cruz Foundation and AEC are partnering on this project with the principal investigators.
Contact person for this project: Maria Elena Riddle who can be reached at (510) 846-4075 and via email at maria_elena.riddle@uwsv.org.
LEGISLATION SENATE BILL 1170
Legislation Senate Bill 1170 is being revisited this legislative session as it was not successful last spring in being enacted into law. The bill would have allowed charter schools that exclusively serve students eligible for community day school services to receive the higher ADA funds by tapping into unexpended county funds allocated by the State Legislature to serve these students. Currently, only community day schools can receive this higher funding level. A group interested in this policy issue revisited a non-profit organization in Southern California that is operating on similar legislation and serves several thousand students in the Los Angeles area. Karen Belote and Matt Hammer of PACT reported on that trip and plan to work with Assemblyman Joe Coto as the author this legislative session. Mark Browne of CCPA and Michael Benavides, former AEC Research Assistant, provided extensive research last year for the drafting of the initial language and provisions.
Contact person for interested AEC members – Pearl Cheng at (408) 247-1200 or via email at pearl.cheng@uwsv.org or contact Matt Hammer via email at Matthammer@aol.com.
