Educating the Educators on Social Justice focused Pedagogy

CSUDH Prof. Jarod Kawasaki gets acknowledged for co-authoring two chapters in a newly published book. The book contains 256 pages and is available to purchase now.

Photo Courtesy of CSUDH Education Instagram

By Jesus Loza, Staff Reporter

Dr. Jarod Kawasaki, Assistant Professor in the Division of Teacher Education and Assessment Coordinator at California State University, Dominguez Hills, College’s Evaluation Center, recently showed his advocacy and devotion to social justice in the book “Preparing and Sustaining Social Justice Educators,” where he is author of two chapters. The book touches on social justice and highlights the work of UCLA’s very own Center X which was published by Harvard education press. 

Kawasaki’s participation with this book began while he was a graduate student at UCLA while he was working on his Ph.D. He was employed by Center X to assist a big federal grant project that was undertaking research on teacher preparation, especially training science and math teachers from a social justice viewpoint.

“I spent three years as a graduate student and four years as a postdoctoral researcher on this project. So, the book is a culmination of my time at UCLA working with teachers between 2012-2019,” Kawasaki said. 

The book touches on how social justice has been the drive force of what Center X is doing. The center which has been open since 1992.

The UCLA Center X does this by having teachers become involved with programs that have inclusion so students and teachers can both have a brighter future. The center helps teachers go above and beyond so that students can have a better outcome when it comes to their education. It  also  hosts professional learning collaborations that foster diverse, anti-racist, and socially responsible learning communities.

Scholar and activist Jeannie Oakes, the founding director of Center who was featured in the last chapter of the book, explains the Center X project began in the aftermath of Rodney King’s beating, and it has continued in the outcome of the deaths of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, schools being full of children looking for knowledge and a decent meal. Center X has not made the world safe, healthy, or decent; but it continues to educate and nourish those who want to do so.

The purpose of this book is to reach teachers, teacher educators, and anyone interested in teaching and learning to dive into it through a social justice perspective. It contains stories of teachers, administrators, university faculty, and staff from Los Angeles and their work towards educational equity and justice for schools in working-class communities of color. 

“There are stories of hope, there are stories of lessons learned, stories of decades-long partnerships, and more. The book is meant to support others that share this vision and provide aspirational, inspirational, and pragmatic examples of how Center X has done this work for the past 25 years,”  said Kawasaki.

Kawasaki explains his point of view about the book and the outcomes by saying that it doesn’t feel like the organization or the book will have a positive impact on social justice, but that it doesn’t stop him or the organization from continuing to spread awareness on this project. Kawasaki dedicates and devotes his time preparing and supporting teachers who will work in local public schools throughout Los Angeles, trying to support and make a difference in the lives of the children.

The book “Preparing and Sustaining Social Justice Educators” can be purchased through Amazon, Walmart, and Harvard Education Publishing Group website and the cost is $33.