The Education for Liberation team at the IU School of Education in Indianapolis offers professional learning and technical assistance to improve schooling outcomes for all, especially underserved students. E4L currently works with schools through two initiatives: a grant partnership with the IDOE called “Cultural Competency: Leading Radical Change” and a grant partnership with the Lumina Foundation called “School Change Leadership for Racial Equity and Justice.”
Both initiatives use a train-the-trainer model to develop the expertise of school leadership teams to lead radical change for students of color, English Learners, students with disabilities, and students who are economically disadvantaged.
Education for Liberation is rooted in the belief that there has always been a link between education and citizenship. They evaluate the quality of relationships, pedagogy, the accuracy and inclusivity of curricular content, and family, community, and school partnerships.
E4L’s IDOE grant initiative, “Leading Radical Change," offers professional learning in these areas:
Equity: centers the culture, heritage, and lives of all children and links culturally sustaining policies, programs, and practices to academic excellence and expansive learning opportunities for all children
Pedagogy: cultivates in educators the capacity for enacting powerful pedagogical change that is culturally responsive and sustaining through the Enduring Principles of Learning
Curriculum: uses curriculum mapping to make standard school curriculum more culturally responsive and sustaining
Family, Community, School Engagement: leverages the strengths and needs of stakeholders who work together to develop a shared vision built on democratic participation, mutual respect, critical consciousness, and sustainability
To learn more about the E4L's Lumina Initiative, please click here
Education for Liberation Team Members
| Leadership |
| Dr. Tambra O. Jackson |
| Dr. Annela Teemant |
| Facilitators |
| Dr. Cristina Santamaría Graff |
| Dr. Brenda Harris |
| Dr. Cleveland Hayes |
| Dr. Gina Borgioli Yoder |
| Dr. Lasana Kazembe |
| Mr. Evan Taylor |
| Dr. Kara Taylor |
More partnerships
Education for Liberation's overarching purpose is to execute a model of School Change Leadership and teacher professional development (PD) that results in radical, sustainable, measurable, and replicable educational equity for historically marginalized students.
Funded by the Lumina Foundation, this Education for Liberation (E4L) Grant implements a two-year model of professional development that improves equity in access, opportunities, and outcomes for historically marginalized students. School Change Leadership teams at two highly diverse elementary school sites in Indianapolis Public Schools utilize online modules, professional learning communities, and coaching models to support collaborative school improvement.
E4L promotes collaborative capacity building to center marginalized student populations to transform inequitable conditions and structures. E4L engages participants in learning that is transformative, relational, courageous, and culturally sustaining to more richly humanizing learning environments, support participatory democracy, and promote freedom from oppression. Their PD constantly bridges theory and practice, ensuring equity is manifested in everyday pedagogical and curricular practices and experiences.
The Education for Liberation's Lumina Initiative is a professional development series developed by
IU Indianapolis. The materials and activities are designed to guide, support, and empower your school leadership team as trainers-of-trainers to cultivate the capacity for enacting powerful pedagogical change in your school that reflects deep cultural competency.
For more information, please contact Lumina Initiative Project Manager, Dr. Angel Nathan, at nathana@iu.edu.
IU School of Education in Indianapolis awarded $1.1 million grant for digital learning with communities.
CEISL is a research and development team that is part of the IU School of Education in Indianapolis, a leading urban research university in the US. CEISL was formed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to provide support for teachers, families, schools, and communities in using technology to support culturally relevant learning experiences informed by Universal Design for Learning (UDL).
CEISL Website