Teacher Educator | Researcher | Activist | Consultant | Writer | Speaker | Mentor |
Daughter of the U.S. South
Daughter of the U.S. South
From Dr. Caldera
Hi, I'm Altheria. My family call me Peaches, and some friends call me Al. My commitment to helping educators develop into racial equity leaders stems from a deeply personal place. I want to tell you a bit about this place.
I was the second child born to an unwed, teen mom and was raised in an impoverished home in the rural South. As a young girl, I attended all-Black de facto segregated schools shortly after Alabama forced integration in the early 1970s. This attempt at integration resulted in dual school systems: white segregation academics and Black public schools that were staffed by exemplary mostly Black teachers.
After graduating from high school, I attended college as a first-generation student and earned a B.A. in English (Stillman College), and immediately afterward, an M.Ed. in English Education (University of West Alabama). I excelled in school in spite of the many obstacles I faced, but this is not the case for far too many Students of Color and students from economically disadvantaged families who face structural barriers that are often insurmountable.
Overwhelmingly, these bright, brilliant students attend overcrowded, under-resourced schools with high teacher-attrition. Curricula and teachers marginalize their identities, devalue their cultural knowledge and languaging practices, and respond to their behavior in punitive ways. After teaching in public schools and at the community college, I was motivated to earn a Ph.D. (Texas Christian University) because I wanted to correct these injustices by ensuring that teachers and curricula were culturally relevant and racially just.
I've done this work for the last several years as a teacher educator, consultant, and eduction policy fellow. My goal is to help educators (and others) become racial equity leaders who not only enact anti-racist schooling practices that lead to educative spaces where all students can thrive but also shape education laws and policies. This work is important to me because attaining academic and professional success should be the norm for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, not the exception.
My personal background distinguishes me in the DEI space. As a child, I experienced almost every "risk factor" for school failure. I am one of "those" students. Now I get to be their champion. Additionally, my experiences as a teacher in public schools and as faculty in higher education give me a distinct perspective on how to support teachers.
Finally, as a scholar, I have published almost two dozen peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. If you're interested in reading my publications, you can find them here.
I stand on the shoulders of Black women like Mary McLeod Bethune, Ida B. Wells, Fannie Lou Hamer, Angela Davis, Marian Wright Edelman, Johnnetta B. Cole, and countless others who have worked towards racial equity.
I was the second child born to an unwed, teen mom and was raised in an impoverished home in the rural South. As a young girl, I attended all-Black de facto segregated schools shortly after Alabama forced integration in the early 1970s. This attempt at integration resulted in dual school systems: white segregation academics and Black public schools that were staffed by exemplary mostly Black teachers.
After graduating from high school, I attended college as a first-generation student and earned a B.A. in English (Stillman College), and immediately afterward, an M.Ed. in English Education (University of West Alabama). I excelled in school in spite of the many obstacles I faced, but this is not the case for far too many Students of Color and students from economically disadvantaged families who face structural barriers that are often insurmountable.
Overwhelmingly, these bright, brilliant students attend overcrowded, under-resourced schools with high teacher-attrition. Curricula and teachers marginalize their identities, devalue their cultural knowledge and languaging practices, and respond to their behavior in punitive ways. After teaching in public schools and at the community college, I was motivated to earn a Ph.D. (Texas Christian University) because I wanted to correct these injustices by ensuring that teachers and curricula were culturally relevant and racially just.
I've done this work for the last several years as a teacher educator, consultant, and eduction policy fellow. My goal is to help educators (and others) become racial equity leaders who not only enact anti-racist schooling practices that lead to educative spaces where all students can thrive but also shape education laws and policies. This work is important to me because attaining academic and professional success should be the norm for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, not the exception.
My personal background distinguishes me in the DEI space. As a child, I experienced almost every "risk factor" for school failure. I am one of "those" students. Now I get to be their champion. Additionally, my experiences as a teacher in public schools and as faculty in higher education give me a distinct perspective on how to support teachers.
Finally, as a scholar, I have published almost two dozen peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. If you're interested in reading my publications, you can find them here.
I stand on the shoulders of Black women like Mary McLeod Bethune, Ida B. Wells, Fannie Lou Hamer, Angela Davis, Marian Wright Edelman, Johnnetta B. Cole, and countless others who have worked towards racial equity.