We invite you to register for Spring 2021 Virtual Conference on Friday, April 16, 2021 through Saturday, April 17, 2021. The Spring 2021 Conference theme is Deepening our Understanding: Building a Stronger Community for Justice in Education. It is designed to leverage work from the fall conference on the critical topics of equity, diversity and inclusion. The conference is scheduled from 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM on Friday and Saturday. Each day will consist of a keynote address followed by two breakout sessions and an update from our colleagues at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Conference Schedule

The conference is scheduled from 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM on Friday and Saturday. Each day will consist of a keynote address followed by two breakout sessions and an update from our colleagues at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Please visit the MACTE website for more information about the scheduled speakers and sessions as the conference date draws near!

Keynote Speakers

Friday Address: Dr. Mariela Paez, Boston College

Dr. Mariela Páez is Associate Professor at the Lynch School of Education, Boston College. She has a doctorate in Human Development and Psychology from the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University. Her research interests include bilingualism, children’s language and literacy development, and early childhood education. From 2000 to 2005, she was the Co-Investigator of the Early Childhood Study of Language and Literacy Development of Spanish-speaking Children, which investigated the factors that influence the course of English and Spanish literacy development for young Spanish-speaking children from low-socioeconomic backgrounds. From 2007-2011, she was the Principal Investigator for the Early Childhood Intervention Study: Improving the Language and Literacy Skills of Spanish-English Bilingual Kindergartners, another federally funded longitudinal intervention study designed to improve the language and literacy development of young bilingual students. In addition, Dr. Páez was Co-Principal Investigator for the project Teaching Academic Language in the Content Areas: Enhancing Achievement for English Language Learners, a national professional development grant. In 2013, Páez was appointed to the Early Literacy Expert Panel of Massachusetts, and she helps develop recommendations for improving reading proficiency among students in the state. Currently, she is conducting a study investigating practices of exemplary teachers for DLLs across different early childhood programs (i.e., public, private and Head Start). She is author of numerous articles and has published in leading journals including Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, American Educational Research Journal, Topics in Language Disorders, and Equity & Excellence in Education. She is also co-editor of Latinos: Remaking America (with Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, 2002, 2008).

Saturday Address: Dr. Eric DeMeulenaere, Clark University

Dr. Eric DeMeulenaere is an Associate Professor in Clark University’s Education Department. Prior to joining Clark University’s faculty, he taught middle and high school social studies and English in Oakland and San Francisco, CA. In 2004, he co-founded and directed an innovative small public school in East Oakland that focused on social justice and increased academic outcomes for youth of color. Before opening the school, Dr. DeMeulenaere earned his Ph.D. in the Social and Cultural Studies Program at U.C. Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education. He has consulted with urban school leaders and teachers nationally and internationally to transform their organizational school cultures and address social and racial inequities. His research employs participatory action research and narrative inquiry methods and draws extensively from critical theory to examine how to create more effective and liberatory learning spaces for urban youth. More recently, Dr. DeMeulenaere was the co-founder and founding director of the innovative and award-winning new major at Clark University, Community, Youth, and Education Studies, which engages undergraduates in community-based activist research. Dr. DeMeulenaere is the co-author of Reflections from the Field: How Coaching Made Us Better Teachers (2013) and The Activist Academic: Engaged Scholarship for Resistance, Hope and Social Change (2020).

Questions? Contact MACTE

If you have any trouble completing or submitting this form, please contact macteboard@gmail.com.