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Indigenous education in New Mexico has a long and disappointing history, but with current movements in the reformation of a more equitable system, there is hope for a constitutionally sound and appropriate education for New Mexico's students. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a historical overview of the New Mexico Indian Education Act of 2003 and examine the scope of this state legislation in the 2018 court decision in Yazzie/Martinez vs. the State of New Mexico. This court ruling has directly affected schools and students in New Mexico. Specifically, there are legal and operational ramifications to school districts and implications for curricular and classroom decisions that address inequities in public education for vulnerable student populations. To provide context, I share my testimony as a witness in the legal proceedings. I also argue that curricular development opportunities in critical literacy and critical awareness for education practitioners will prove to be important responses to the findings of the lawsuit. I share findings from qualitative research on the implementation of the New Mexico Indian Education Act prior to the Yazzie/Martinez lawsuit and the resulting changes to the legislation resulting from the court findings.

This chapter describes a teacher education initiative for in-service teachers from around the United States focused on engagement with historical sites in New Mexico. The initiative invited professional educators to reconceptualize and “re-read” the history of the United States by studying the history of culture of Santa Fe and surrounding communities. This chapter will include an overview of place-conscious education. Additionally, it will advance three place orientations that are rooted in New Mexico history and culture: querencia, contested homelands, and sites as layered, storied texts. The chapter will also include an overview of the history of New Mexico that informed the professional development including a description of three historic sites that exemplify New Mexico's place orientations. Finally, the chapter will discuss qualities of the professional development experience itself with key insights gained from the participants around the place orientations identified in the chapter.

This chapter looks at the presence of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, plus (LGBTQIA+) literacy practices in New Mexico schools, primarily Albuquerque Public Schools. When finding rates of homelessness, suicide, and mental illness to be high in New Mexico, the author tackles the question of what teachers can do in their spaces to be inclusive and supportive. The author analyzes what is present and what is missing. Through citing organizations GLSEN, The Trevor Project, and Equality New Mexico, the author suggests minor and major ways to make change in elementary, middle, and high school classrooms. The suggestions include adding LGBTQIA+ history to the curriculum, creating safe spaces for preferred pronouns, and reading LGBTQIA+ literature and legislature.

Engaging in activism and sustaining the self at a research university with a diverse student body is no simple task. From marching at Edmund Pettus Bridge as part of engaging in the Bridge Jubilee to the New Mexico Latino Education Task Force, Rick has invested much in activism as a scholar, even as such activities go unrecognized and unrewarded in the academy. In this chapter, Rick discusses his long career standing up for families and children in New Mexico and the origins of that work. He presents the roots of his activism in his life as a white Jewish male in a progressive family that demanded thoughtfulness and action. Starting at 14 years old with involvement with the movement to protect Soviet Jewish refugees to gaining conscientious objector status during the Vietnam War, Rick soon found that education and activism are not often overlapping spheres, but in his work with young children and eventually teachers, students, and families, he found ways to make sure they did.

This chapter documents a commitment to culturally responsive teaching through the implementation of multimodal text sets in English language arts teacher education. Using a communities of inquiry framework inspired by justice-driven approaches to literacy learning, preservice teachers at New Mexico State University designed curriculum and instruction that considered the importance of students' digital literacies to meaning-making and communication. Through the presentation of a course unit that explores how multimodal text sets inspire literacy learning that is culturally relevant for students whose racial, linguistic, and cultural identities are often absent in mainstream school curricula, this chapter highlights the notion that digital literacies are accessible to and supportive of the minority serving educational institutions of New Mexico. Preservice teachers first considered what topics sparked their curiosity or inspired them to step into learning before exploring topics to which their future students will be drawn to investigate in language arts. Integrating two frameworks for creating text sets, preservice teachers then selected a targeted, canonical text around which to build their sets and supported it with multimodal scaffolding texts. Following the work and reflections of one focal student, this chapter offers unit descriptions, snapshots, and implications of personalized literacy experiences with creating inquiry-based, multimodal text sets in a secondary methods course.

New Mexico (NM) students live complex intersectional lives; thus, drama is a tool that grants students the keys to understanding social justice, resistance, and, most importantly, healing. For drama to be used as a social justice tool, elements of the outside world need to be brought into the classroom. The following uses Teatro Campesino as a radical educational framework that recenters the lost voices of NM students. The intersectional nature of NM students presents a unique opportunity for teachers where drama and Teatro Campesino thrive as its aides in dismantling the education system as a way to provide more equity in the classroom. The classroom space should celebrate and discuss all social locations and struggles. But the space has been hostile, and taboo subjects such as mental health and suicide are supposed to be left at the door, but this is not possible. Using drama, specifically as a learning tool and aspect of the classroom grants students the opportunity to learn more about themselves and others through a safe space. NM youth are susceptible to a lot, including, but not limited to historical trauma, high levels of stress, and a variety of commitments that extend well beyond the classroom. Because of these added aspects of student life, being a K–12 student in New Mexico is different from where the majority of the curriculum comes from. Thus, using Teatro Campesino and the musical Dear Evan Hansen is not only appropriate to bring into the classroom but also critical for equity to prevail.

Six New Mexican teachers are featured in their own words and classrooms. Using transcribed interviews and classroom photos, each K-12 teacher shares their perspectives about curriculum and pedagogy with a focus on the students and content of New Mexico. Common themes include social-emotional learning, culturally responsive pedagogy, critical and embedded literacy, place-based curriculum, and teaching for New Mexican Indigenous and Hispanic populations.

Some students with documented learning needs (e.g., learning disabilities, physical challenges) receive strong support through the legislation, funding, and accountability systems associated with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (1973). However, in the absence of supportive federal policy, other students with documented learning needs (e.g., high cognitive ability) experience varying levels of support due to differences in state and local policies, funding, and accountability requirements. These differences are due in large part to misconceptions about students with advanced learning needs (e.g., that they can meet grade-level standards without intervention) and equity concerns (e.g., students with the greatest perceived needs should be served first). Special education has a long history of alleviating educational mismatches by preparing students for challenging learning opportunities, providing classroom support structures, and monitoring educational placements through a system of regular evaluation and adjustment. Students served in gifted and talented education can benefit from these same asset-based, sociocultural approaches. However, efforts to support students with advanced learning needs are more likely to be consistently and successfully applied if they are backed by changes to existing policies, funding, and accountability systems.