XITO COLLECTIVE
ANITA FERNÁNDEZ, Ph.D.
Anita Fernández is the co-founder and Executive Director of XITO and has been a classroom teacher and teacher educator for over two decades. Her positions most recently included Chief Diversity Officer at Prescott College, Associate Dean of the Social Justice & Community Organizing graduate program and faculty in Social Justice Studies. Dr. Fernandez’s teaching, scholarship, and organizing have been in the areas of racial justice, decolonizing pedagogies, Latinx movements and Ethnic Studies professional development, which have directly informed her work with XITO, now nationally recognized as a leader in K-20 Ethnic Studies training. She has been locally and nationally involved in the movement for liberatory Ethnic Studies and the need for statewide policies to require Ethnic Studies at the K-12 level. Dr. Fernández’s publications include work in Equity and Excellence in Education, Ethnic Studies Pedagogies, Journal of Praxis in Multicultural Education, Multicultural Education, Journal of Association of Mexican American Educators, Rethinking Ethnic Studies and “White” Washing American Education: The New Culture Wars in Ethnic Studies. She is based in Tucson, Arizona.
SEAN ARCE, Ph.D
Sean Arce, co-founder and former director of the nationally renowned and now banned K-12 Mexican American Studies Department in Tucson, Arizona, received the first Myles Horton Award for Teaching People’s History from the Zinn Education Project (ZEP) in 2012. ZEP honored Arce "for his instrumental role in nurturing one of the most significant and successful public school initiatives on the teaching of history in the United States." His work has been highlighted on PBS, Democracy Now and National Public Radio. As an activist urban educator who has worked in public schools for nearly 20 years, Dr. Arce believes that what made his colleagues and himself effective was the implementation and continuous development of a “Barrio Pedagogy.”
Within this innovative and transformative pedagogy, indigenous epistemologies and social justice based frameworks were utilized where students and teachers in collaboration co-constructed an educational experience that fostered an academic identity and the development of a strong cultural identity. Dr. Arce received his Bachelor’s of Arts in Mexican American Studies from the University of Arizona and his Master’s in Educational Leadership from Northern Arizona University. Arce is currently teaching high school Xicana/o Studies classes in Los Angeles Unified School District which fulfill the University of California "A-G" course requirements.
NORMA MICTLANI GONZALEZ, Ph.D.
Dr. Norma “Mictlani” Gonzalez is a critical educator with 30 years of combined experience in teaching and teacher training in Ethnic Studies in public education at the K-12 level. Her approach to education is rooted in implementing decolonizing, asset-based pedagogies that center traditionally marginalized students’ lived experiences and history in curriculum and instruction. Her transformative approach seeks to maximize minoritized student academic achievement by emphasizing students’ sense of belonging, self, hope, and agency. Professionally Dr. Gonzalez is a school administrator with an equity lens toward the elimination of the achievement gap for minoritized students through the implementation of decolonizing and asset-based pedagogies and in developing teacher critical awareness. Dr. Gonzalez has extensive experience in the development of culturally relevant curriculum. She received her doctorate in the department of Educational Policy Studies and Practice, at the University of Arizona wherein her research focus centered in-service teacher professional development focused on race and educational equity for minoritized students. As an educational consultant, Dr. Gonzalez works with school districts around the nation to prepare teachers to teach a diverse student demographic emphasizing decolonizing learning spaces. She is a former K-12 teacher and curriculum specialist for the renowned Mexican-American/Raza Studies in Tucson-the largest public school ethnic studies program in the nation before it was dismantled in January of 2012.
JOSE GONZALEZ, Ph.D
With 32 years of experience in public school education, Jose has served as both a classroom teacher and as a curriculum specialist for the esteemed Mexican American/Raza Studies department. Currently, he holds the position of Master Teacher/Coach in TUSD's Culturally Responsive (CR) Department, where he actively collaborates with CR educators to shift their teaching approach from teacher-centered to asset-based learner-centered curriculum design. His approach to education utilizes an innovative dialectic method; Jose strongly emphasizes student voice, challenging and rupturing the "culture of silence" to foster a classroom ecology that empowers students to actively participate in their learning process. Implementing a transformative dialectic process and promoting Freirean Consciousness, he creates conditions encouraging students to take ownership of their learning and enhance their analytical reasoning skills. Drawing from Dr. Maria Montano-Harrmon's Discourse Patterns, students refine their academic writing skills while leveraging experiential knowledge within their dialectic groups to co-construct and negotiate meaning from canonical university ethnic studies texts. Jose integrates indigenous epistemology to cultivate a humanized class discourse. His academic journey includes a bachelor's degree from Emporia State University, a master's degree from Northern Arizona University, and a doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy from the University of Arizona.
CURTIS ACOSTA, Ph.D.
Curtis Acosta has been a public high school teacher in Tucson for nearly 20 years where he developed and taught Chicanx/Latinx Literature classes for the renowned Mexican American Studies program in Tucson - the largest public school ethnic studies program in the nation before being dismantled in January of 2012. MAS classes were centered on student empowerment and agency through critical pedagogy, as well as culturally responsive and socially relevant curriculum.
Curtis is an award-winning educator that has been featured in the documentary Precious Knowledge, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and his classes were subject of multiple profiles by CNN, The New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times amongst many other media outlets. Curtis received his Bachelor’s of Arts degree from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, and later obtained a Master’s of Arts degree and Ph.D. in Language, Reading, and Culture from the University of Arizona in Tucson. He is currently an Assistant Professor in Teaching, Learning, and Sociocultural Studies at the University of Arizona.