The Influential Organization Training our School Districts and Teachers on Land Back Activism, Decolonialism and How to turn Students into Activists
XITO has worked with school districts across the country and held professional development services for over 3000 k-12 educators across the country.
The Xicanx Institute for Teaching and Organizing (XITO) bills itself as a
“grassroots, urban education consulting collective and non-profit organization committed to training teachers, school districts, and higher education institutions in de-colonial and re-humanizing pedagogies and curriculum development.”
“XITO addresses the need for educators to receive training in liberatory and decolonizing practices with the goal of impacting future education policy.” - in other words, these are educator-activists.
“XITO's consulting sites have included Santa Ana Unified School District (CA), North Thurston Public Schools (WA), Berkeley Unified School District (CA), Napa Valley College (CA), Gavilan College (CA), New Haven Unified School District (CA), Edmonds School District (WA), Highline School District (WA), La Cima (WA Association of School Principals), L.A. Mission College (CA), Sacramento City College (CA), Evergreen State College (WA), Denver Public Schools (CO), and Albuquerque Public Schools (NM) among others.”
It offers consultation and professional development services for K-12 and higher education teachers and school districts:
It does this by teaching their framework:
XITO’s “decolonial framework for Pedagogy and Practice”
“has been implemented by school districts and higher education institutions to reframe their policies and practices by including these critical and decolonial approaches in all areas of their curriculum and pedagogy, and more specifically, integrated into Ethnic Studies course work and curriculum development.”
“Many teachers are up against state legislation preventing them from teaching about colonialism, white12 supremacy, the inclusion of trans and queer representation as well as a litany of content necessary for teaching an accurate history of the U.S. All of these attacks are framed in an “anti-woke” dogma designed to focus on individual feelings and detract from naming and understanding how systems of oppression must be analyzed, rather than individual notions of discomfort.”
“Ethnic Studies directly challenges these attempts by our opponents, by helping our students develop a love of themselves and their cultura, build their critical consciousness, identify systems of oppression, and develop the skills and analysis to make change.”
“Critical Ethnic Studies educators continuously interrogate the educational system to eliminate colonial practices that dehumanize youth and their communities. Decolonial education provides educational spaces that cultivate a culture of rehumanization while equipping historically racialized youth with the skills to navigate and work to dismantle colonization through acts of resistance and remembrance, in this case using Chicanx ancestral knowledge.”
“Teaching Critical Consciousness When applying the tenet of Teaching Critical Consciousness to an Ethnic Studies/Chicanx Studies framework: ▪ We understand that teaching is political and that traditional schooling reproduces inequity. ▪ We are critically conscious and encourage critical literacy development through praxis. ▪ We foster students’ critical consciousness towards transformation and liberation.”
“We understand that youth of color in authentic Ethnic Studies/Chicanx Studies classes are educated to counter this destructive force by facilitating their conscientization and developing their critical literacy (Freire, 2018). As critically conscious youth of color, they become agents of change (praxis) who become aware of our institutions and their systems, which provides them the analytical tools for agency and to redress oppressive conditions and circumstances in their lives”
“Agency Through Critical Praxis When applying the tenant of Agency Through Critical Praxis to an Ethnic Studies/Chicanx Studies framework: ▪ We guide students in the process of examining relevant social, political, environmental and economic issues. ▪ We provide the conditions for students to develop agency to make change to the conditions impacting communities. ▪ We embed the local community’s vision of social justice into all aspects of the classroom and school site including the use of familial and community experts.”
“TIAHUI is an intersectional tool for liberation that can be applied to any Ethnic Studies/Chicanx Studies course or program regardless of the demographics of the students, by applying the six tenets of pedagogy and practice”
XITO is a project of the “Center for Community Education” based in Tucson, Arizona. The director of XITO is Anita Fernandez. According to its most recent 990, the Center for Community Education earned $303,476 in program revenue and $15000 in grants. Fernandez’s reportable compensation was $93,579.
The 990 form states: “In the last year, the organization offered professional development to over 3000 K-12 educators across the country. Workshops were delivered virtually in several cities.”
The previous year’s 990 stated that the organization delivered professional development workshops to over 450 K-12 educators. A significant jump then from year to year.
So what is the content of these workshops?
Recently - they held a “Teach Palestine - Teaching Land Back from Turtle Island to Palestine”.
The goal of the workshop is to develop curriculum for those interested in “teaching Palestine in an Ethnic Studies framework” - for them, “teaching Palestine” is about making connections between “border militarization, land dispossession and organizing for land back” in Gaza and the United States.
This institute is co-sponsored by the Middle East Children’s Alliance “Teach Palestine” project, co-run by Samia Shoman (previously covered in this substack).
Here are some images from the workshop:
First - a seminar on how to integrate Palestine into class topics throughout K-8 classrooms.
If you’re sad you missed out - don’t despair, for a cool $635, you can attend their three day winter institute to be held in Seattle, Washington.
The workshop is being sponsored by the Equity Institute a “collective of equity consultants for social justice and racial healing.”
Under “Clients and Grantors”, the Equity Institute lists the Washington State Board of Education, the Southern Oregon Education Service District and the Lake Washington School District.
What’s on the agenda for the three day winter institute? Follow the link for the full agenda but here are some highlights:
Getting educators to adopt the XITO framework and apply it to their lesson plans
Going over Paulo Friere’s, author of “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”, concept of conscientization process - in other words, how to get our students to be political activists.
And finally - making sure you’re using appropriate language and content in turning your students into activists for their grade level
In case you were wondering where this three day workshop will be held - that would be the University of Washington