Our team

He is also the director of the UCLA Center for theTransformation of Schools which serves as a thought partner for districts, counties, and states to pursue whole child, whole community approaches to school systems improvement. Professor Howard has published over 85 peer reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and technical reports. He has published several bestselling books, among them, Why Race & Culture Matters in Schools and Black Male(d): Peril and promise in the education of African American males. His two most recent books, No More Teaching Without Positive Relationships, and All Students Must Thrive: Transforming Schools To Combat Toxic Stressors And Cultivate Critical Wellness have become must reads for all educators. Dr. Howard is considered one of the premier experts on educational equity and access in the country.

Maisah previously worked as an elementary school classroom teacher in the Compton Unified School District. Maisah Howard has provided professional development for educators nationally focusing on ways schools, teachers and administrators can acquire the skills, knowledge, and dispositions that help support the needs of children and families dealing with social emotional trauma.

A former English teacher, Jaleel has extensive knowledge of classroom supports and accommodations for instructional practice that enhance learning for underrepresented students.

Kenjus also teaches courses on Educational Inequality, The History of Education, and Critical Race Theory in the Education Department and Black Studies Program at Occidental College. He earned his BA in Psychology at Occidental College, his Master’s in Education at Penn State University, and his PhD in Education with an emphasis in Race and Ethnic Studies at UCLA.

Currently, he is turning to both critical theory and research in the health sciences to inform his research findings on complex traumas and urban education. Camangian has been an English teacher since 1999, continuing in the tradition of teacher-research, applying critical pedagogies in urban schools.

As a district administrator and classroom teacher, Earl has designed and facilitated district-wide professional development modules covering data analysis, formative assessments, and effective teaching strategies for vulnerable student populations. Earl holds a bachelor’s degree from Boston College, a master’s degree from Teachers College Columbia University and is currently a doctoral candidate in the Urban Schooling Division of the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies.

Before joining the faculty at Stanford, Dr. Martínez was an assistant professor of Language and Literacy Studies in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to earning his doctorate from the Division of Urban Schooling at the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, Dr. Martínez worked as a bilingual elementary school teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Recent research has been published in Teachers College Record, Curriculum Inquiry, and Urban Education. Dr. Navarro received the Transformative Teacher-Educator Fellowship, the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education Faculty Fellowship, and the President’s Faculty Diversity Award at Cal Poly. He held leadership roles in AERA’s Critical Educators for Social Justice, the Central Coast Coalition for Undocumented Student Success, and the People’s Education Movement.

In addition to his equity work in mathematics education, he supports K-12 teachers across content areas in developing their social justice & anti-racist pedagogies, as well as in putting those pedagogies into practice in school communities across the country. Dr. Terry has served as P.I. on an NSF Noyce grant focused on serving culturally- and linguistically diverse students in STEM; and, in collaboration with the Occidental World Languages Project, serves as PI on a number of regional & national grants to support instructional pedagogy & teacher development in world languages.

Dr. Smith was a postdoctoral scholar in the Kasari lab at UCLA’s Center for Autism Research & Treatment (CART) where she joined the AIR-B project, working with local community-based agencies in a university-community partnership to reduce autism disparities in Black and Latino communities.In the 2021-2022 school year she joined the Special Education Committee for the Los Angeles Unified School District to better advocate and support families and children with special needs. A former special education teacher in urban schools, Dr. Smith’s research focuses on collaboration to serve juvenile justice-involved youth with disabilities, community-partnered autism research, and Black family/caregiver engagement in special education.

Prior to UCLA, she was a math and science teacher and principal of a K-8 school in Los Angeles that was specifically designed to serve Standard English Learners and Emergent Bi-Lingual Learners through culturally linguistic and responsive pedagogy. She served as a Program Manager for Chicago Public Schools in the department of Curriculum and Instruction, and was a Senior Program Officer for the Los Angeles California Children and Families First Commission where she co-developed initiatives and grant giving priorities for school readiness, child abuse, and strategic planning. In addition, she worked as a Senior Evaluation Consultant for an evaluation firm based in New York where she conducted evaluations on urban school reform initiatives across the country. Dr. Orange received her Ed.D in Administrative and Policy Studies, with a concentration on evaluation, from the University of Pittsburgh. She received a M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia University in Politics and Education and a M.A. from UCLA in Education.

Elianny C. Edwards has led workshops on increasing school safety, addressing student trauma, and employing a racial equity lens within institutions. Her research has been featured in media outlets like the LA Times, NPR, EdWeek, and EdSource. An Afro-Latina born and raised in New York City, Elianny is a first generation alumna who has committed her life to bridging research and practice to improve educational equity, access, and outcomes for Students of Color and low-income youth. Elianny is a doctoral candidate in the Human Development & Psychology division of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. She received a master’s degree in education from UCLA and a bachelor’s degree in clinical psychology and child development from Tufts University.

JC now works with pre-service teachers at CSU Dominguez Hills where he also earned an MA in Education with a concentration in Curriculum & Instruction.

Dr. Minkoff earned her Ph.D. at the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to that, she earned her M.A.T. in Liberal Studies, preliminary multiple subject teaching credential, and B.A. in psychology from Occidental College.