Good day Ethnic Studies Community,

I have a community opportunity for you to participate in designing a professional learning opportunity for Utah educators.

Joint Ethnic Studies Literacy Project

Call for Field Experts

Project Timeline: March - June, 2024 

Time Commitment: Maximum of 74 hours

Compensation: $30 per hour / totaling up to $2,220 max for the project

Project Summary: Building educator capacity to navigate Utah ethnic studies requirements and related materials through pedagogy, content, and practice in a 3-module asynchronous course. The course will support educators in using resources and ethnic studies-related core standards in the classroom. All while demonstrating connections between ethnic studies and Utah communities.

Utah State Board of Education staff and the Utah Historical Society would like to build dynamic teams of field experts to support curating content for each ethnic group defined in the Utah ethnic studies requirements. We aim to pay content experts, educators, and librarians (field experts) to curate and vet resources that connect to Utah core standards across disciplines. 

Types Field Experts Needed: 

• Local Educators, preference to educators currently teaching Ethnic Studies. (6)
• Librarians (6)
• Asian historical & socio-cultural expert (1)
• Black/ African American historical & socio-cultural expert (1)
• Pacific Islander & Hawaiian historical & socio-cultural expert (1)
• Middle Eastern historical & socio-cultural expert (1)
• Latino historical & socio-cultural expert (1)
• Native American, Alaskan & Indigenous Peoples historical & socio-cultural expert (1)

Each team will be made up of a content expert, an educator, and a librarian. The teams will be expected to: 

• Collect, organize, and vet existing resources.
• Note gaps in the collection and where improvements can be made or strengthen connections to standards. 
• Create a course module to train educators on how to use the curated resources.

If you would like to participate in the project, please let me know by March 1, 2024. 

Thank you! Have a wonderful day!

All the best,

Etiana E. Coley Mells

Ethnic Studies Education Specialist

Title IV, Part A: Stronger Connections Grant Manager

Teaching & Learning Department

Utah State Board of Education

eva.coleymells@schools.utah.gov

385-295-7947

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