The Shoulders We Stand On
A History of Bilingual Education in New Mexico
Winner of the 2021 Southwest Book Award from the Border Regional Library Association
The Shoulders We Stand On traces the complex history of bilingual education in New Mexico, covering Spanish, Diné, and Pueblo languages. The book focuses on the formal establishment of bilingual education infrastructure and looks at the range of contemporary challenges faced historically by linguistically and culturally diverse students. The volume's contributors highlight particular actions, initiatives, and people that have made significant impacts on bilingual education in New Mexico, and they place New Mexico's experience in context with national efforts. The book also includes an excellent timeline of bilingual education in the state. The Shoulders We Stand On is the first book to delve into the history of bilingual education in New Mexico and to present New Mexico's leaders, families, and educators who have pioneered program development, legislation, policy, evaluation, curriculum development, and teacher preparation in the field of bilingual multicultural education at state and national levels. Historians of education, educators, and educators in training will want to consider this as required reading.
Rebecca Blum Martínez is a professor of bilingual education and ESL in the Department of Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies in the University of New Mexico’s College of Education. Mary Jean Habermann López was the state director for state and federal bilingual education at the New Mexico Public Education Department for most of her professional career. She also has extensive classroom and university teaching experience.
Introduction
Rebecca Blum Martínez and Mary Jean Habermann López
Part One. Indigenous New Mexico: The Critical Role of Language in a Way of Life
Chapter One. The Gift of Language from One Pueblo Perspective
Regis Pecos
Chapter Two. From English-Only Boarding School Policies to Total Navajo Immersion Methodologies: A Sociocultural Historical Perspective of Navajo Bilingual Education
Vincent Werito
Chapter Three: Bilingual Education in Pueblo Country
Christine P. Sims
Part Two. Experimentation, Policies, and Legislation
Chapter Four. Promise and Frustration: The History of Spanish-Language Bilingual Education in New Mexico, 1846-1970
Phillip (Felipe) B. Gonzales
Chapter Five. The Pecos Project
Mary Jean Habermann López
Chapter Six. Initial Policies, Legislation, and Decisions
Rebecca Blum Martínez
Chapter Seven. Serna v. Portales, 1974: Changing the Music and Asserting Language Rights for New Mexico's Children
Mia Angélica Sosa-Provencio and Rebecca Sánchez
Chapter Eight. New Mexico's Role in Federal Policies
Rebecca Blum Martínez and Mary Jean Habermann López
Part Three. Innovations, Preparation, and Leaders
Chapter Nine. Innovations in Bilingual Education in New Mexico
Beverly Argus-Calvo, Rebecca Blum Martínez, and Mary Jean Habermann López
Chapter Ten. Assessing the Spanish Language Proficiency of Bilingual Teachers
Thomasina Pagán Hannum and Loretta C. Salazar
Chapter Eleven. Development of Instructional Materials for Bilingual Education Programs
Julia Rosa López-Emslie
Chapter Twelve. The State Bilingual Advisory Committee
Mary Jean Habermann López
Chapter Thirteen. Spanish-Speaking and Indigenous Leaders in New Mexico Who Made Successful Innovations in Bilingual Education: A Chapter in Two Parts
María Luisa González and Rebecca Blum Martínez
Timeline: Early Experimentation in ESL and Bilingual Education to the Richardson Administration
Contributors
Index