TEP Alum Samantha Ayala of La Honda STEAM Academy in Lompoc is being honored as a Salute to Teachers distinguished new educator. In this Q&A, she discusses her teaching, motivation and supports.
Conflict
By Natalie Irons, Associate Director, Instructional Coaching, UCLA Center X I’m thinking a lot about how conflict looks, sounds and feels as I engage in my work. I’ve noticed that…
Op-Ed: Attacks on school board meetings are threatening democracy. Will educators help save it?
John Rogers, Center X Faculty Director, co-authored an Op-Ed in the LA Times expressing concern for the antidemocratic attacks on school boards across the country.
UCLA Center X Announces the Start of ExcEL 2026!
UCLA Center X is pleased to announce the start of ExcEL 2026, the latest iteration of the ExcEL Leadership Academy! ExcEL 2026 is a five-year program funded through the National Professional Development (NPD) grants offered by the US Department of Education’s Office of English Language Acquisition.
TEP Alum Profile: Mauro Bautista
UCLA TEP alumnus Mauro Bautista serves as Principal for Felicitas & Gonzalo Mendez High School — a community school located in East Los Angeles.
What the Curriculum Left Out for Us
Currently, there is a movement across the country to leave out critical narratives and histories from the curriculum. However, even before this movement, our curriculum has always left out counternarratives and histories. American textbooks are typically Eurocentric, biased, and disjointed.
Making the Case for Social Justice Educators in America’s Schools
Our new book, “Preparing and Sustaining Social Justice Educators,” details UCLA Center X’s efforts to transform teacher preparation, educator support, and schools through focus on social justice.
Felicitas & Gonzalo Mendez High School: A Community School That Honors Its Neighborhood’s Legacy of Educational Justice
This Learning Policy Institute Brief focuses on a high-performing community school in East Los Angeles led by PLI faculty & graduate Mauro Bautista. The brief details the structures and practices that create the conditions for deep engagement, shared leadership, and a school culture that combines rigorous and engaging academics in a nurturing and inclusive environment.
Inclusion: Do we need to get ready or is it about normalcy?
As I walked around the classroom, I noticed a certain level of calmness. I saw co-teaching happening in this 1st
grade classroom and students actively engaged. The teacher called on “Sara” to talk about what she liked most in the story they read together as a class. Her friends tentatively sat and waited for her response. Her friend “Justin” held her hand and said “Sara, what did you like?” Sara waited and responded “I liked the pictures!” Sara’s response time took a little longer than some of her other friends but no one seemed to care.
Two TEP Alumni Chosen as LAUSD Rookies of the Year 2020-2021
Two TEP alumni, Vanessa Lam and Jareni Polanco, were honored as LAUSD Rookies of the Year for the 2020-2021 school year. Congratulations, Jareni and Vanessa on your well-deserved honor!
Discussion: From Educators to Allies: Supporting Students who are Transgender
Dr. Rita Suh of the Culture & Equity Project talks to Ronnie Eldridge Appleseed about how educators can support students who are transgender.
Summer – Student Poem
I’m for warm summer days
and late nights with the people you love.
A hot season that is sure to come
like tanned skin that you can’t run away from.
Check out our ‘Just News from Center X,’ a weekly web post and email news blast. It’s a great way to learn about issues of education and justice.
We are excited about the publication of Preparing and Sustaining Social Justice Educators edited by our former executive director, Annamarie Francois, along with UCLA Center for Community Schooling director Karen Hunter Quartz.