Pronounsshe, her, hers, herself

Department/College/UnitSocial Sciences Division

TitleProfessor Emerita
Research Professor

AffiliationFaculty

Other UCSC Campus AffiliationLatin American & Latino Studies
Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas

Primary Office LocationMcHenry Library

Additional Location(s)McHenry Library

Mail StopEducation Department

Biography, Education and Training

BA Political Science, Willamette University

MA Education, Stanford University

PhD Education, Stanford University

Summary of Expertise

My research focuses on topics related to the use and development of language and literacy among Mexican-descent children and the development of pedagogical perspectives that build on the resources that these children and their families bring to schools and classrooms. I am also engaged in research examining how teachers of Multilingual learners are responding to and negotiating recent policy mandates related to the teaching of language and literacy. My scholarship in teacher education is focused on investigating how prospective teachers' experiences with language minority children and their families outside of school informs their perspectives on learning and teaching as well as their instructional practice.

Awards, Honors and Grants

2014-2016 The role of talk in teaching writing to elementary grade English learners (ELs), The Spencer Foundation ($50,000)

2012-2014 Elementary Teachers of English Learners Negotiating the Common Core State Standards.  Spencer Foundation ($40,000)

2011-2013 Alliance for Language and Literacy Instruction Effecting Standards (ALLIES), Improving Teacher Quality Grant,California Postsecondary Education Commission. ($500,000)

2007- current Co-Principal Investigator, Central California Writing Project

2005 Carnegie-Goldman QUEST Teacher Educator Fellow

2005-07 Making Sense of Open Court: Teachers Negotiating Top-Down Reform in Literacy Instruction for English Language Learners. Linguistic Minority Research Institute ($61,223)

1996-2004 UCSC Links, UC Office of the President ($370,000)

1996-1997 AERA/Spencer National Research Faculty

 1994-98 Language Maintenance and Shift in Early Adolescence, The Spencer Foundation ($187,5000)

 1992-94 National Academy of Education, Spencer Fellow

Selected Publications

Pease-Alvarez, L. & Samway, K. D. (2025). Collaborative inquiry to support teachers and enhance students’ learning. KAPPAN, 106 (5-6), 39-43.

Samway, K. D.  & Pease-Alvarez, L.  (2025, Feb. 8).  Dubunking myths about undocumented immigrants.  The Fresno Bee.  https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article299747859.html.

Pease-Alvarez, L.  (2024). Transforming lives: First-person reflections from UC Links participants.  In Mahmood, M. W., Elaine, M., & Cano, J. (Eds.).  University-community partnerships for transformative education:  Sowing seeds of resistance and renewal. Palgrave Macmillan, (pp.  249-252).

Pease-Alvarez, L.  (2024). A teacher educator’s reflections on the contributions of Guadalupe Valdés.  In Kibler, A. K., Walqui, A., Bunch, G. C., & Faltis, C. J. (Eds.). Equity in multilingual schools and communities: Celebrating the contributions of Guadalupe Valdés. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Buchanan, R. Scott, J., Pease-Alvarez, L., & Clark, M. (2022).  Common ground is not enough: The situated and dynamic process of collaboration in a multiagency teacher professional development project.  Teaching and Teacher Education, 117.

Matusov, E. & Pease-Alvarez, L.  (2020).  Moving from collaboration to critical dialogue in action in education. Dialogic Pedagogy: An International Online Journal, 8, 1-19.

Alvarez, L., & Pease-Alvarez, L. (2020). An Inquiry Approach to Learning Content with Newcomer Students. Norton K-12 Talk Blog. https://k-12talk.com/2020/05/13/an-inquiry-approach-to-learning- content-with-newcomer-students/

Samway, K.D., Pease-Alvarez, L., & Alvarez, L.  (2020).  Supporting newcomer students:  Advocacy and instruction for English Learners. New York: W. W. Norton Inc.

Thompson, A. & Pease-Alvarez, L. (2018). Working the system: Teacher resistance in a context of compliance. In D. Santoro & L. Cain (Eds.), Principled resistance: How teachers resolve ethical dilemmas (pp. 69-87). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Pease-Alvarez, L. & Thompson, A.  (2014). Teachers working together to resist and remake educational policy in contexts of standardization.  Language Policy, 13 (2), 165-181.

Pease-Alvarez, L. & Samway, K. D.  (2012). Teachers of English learners negotiating authoritarian policies. The Netherlands: Springer. 

Walqui, A. & Pease-Alvarez, L.  (2011).  Teacher learning for instruction of second language learners.  In K. S. Gallagher, R. Goodyear, D. J. Brewer, & R. Rueda  (Eds.),  Urban education:  A model for leadership and policy (pp. 297-310).  New York: Routledge.

Pease-Alvarez, L. & Thompson, A.  (2011).  Teachers organizing to resist in a context of compliance.  In Kathryn Davis (Ed.),  Critical qualitative research in second language studies:  Agency and advocacy (pp. 277-295). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Educators Advocating for Students. (2011).  The power of networking: Educators advocating for change.  In C. E. Sleeter & C. Cornbleth (Eds.). Teacher with vision: Culturally responsive teaching in standards-based classrooms (pp. 142-153).  New York: Teachers College Press.

Pease-Alvarez, L., Samway, K. D., & Cifka-Herrera, C.  (2010).  Working within the system: Teachers of English learners negotiating a literacy instruction mandate.  Language Policy, 9(4), 313-334.

Pease-Alvarez, L. & Samway, K. D.  (2008).  Negotiating a top-down reading mandate.  Language Arts, 86(1), 32-41.

Pease-Alvarez, L. & Schecter, S. R. (Eds.)  (2005). Learning, Teaching, and Community: Contributions of situated and participatory approaches to educational innovation.  Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.