In No One is Too Small to Make a Difference, 16-year-old Greta Thunberg asks, “…if solutions within this system are so impossible to find then maybe we should change the system itself?” As teacher educators we are uniquely positioned to interrupt systemic inequities and increase TK-12 student academic achievement and ability to thrive.
To achieve this goal Heidi believes we must continually ask ourselves a question posed by Django Paris (2016), “How can we prepare teachers to enact pedagogies that meet the needs of the new mainstream; students of color characterized by multilingualism, multiculturalism, and the desire to strive toward equality in an unequal and shifting racially and ethnically diverse society?”
Heidi Stevenson’s work as Associate Director of Center for Reaching & Teaching the Whole Child (CTWC) is focused on supporting students and educators by promoting the integration of social, emotional and cultural competencies (SEC) throughout the teacher professional development pipeline from university teacher preparation, to beginning teacher support, and ongoing teacher professional development to address structural racism, well-being and academic achievement. CRTWC offers professional development for TK-12 educators, induction and teacher coaches, and teacher educators.
Heidi currently serves as President-Elect of the California Council on Teacher Education and representative on the California Department of Education Taskforce on developing transformative social-emotional learning competencies. Prior to that Heidi worked as a teacher of young children, Associate Professor of Education at University of the Pacific, and Visiting Professor at University of California, Berkeley. In all she does, Heidi works collaboratively toward supporting an anti-racist and anti-marginalization educational system that best meets the needs of our society’s biggest asset, our diverse next generation.