About CET

Center for Educational Transformation (CET)
University of California Riverside
Founding Director, Louie F. Rodriguez, Interim Dean of the GSOE

Center Description

The Center for Educational Transformation (CET) is committed to equity-driven, visionary, and social justice-oriented work that aims to explore, highlight, and learn from region-wide examples of policy, practice, and pedagogy for the purposes of serving as a national model for community-engaged research.

The theory of action driving the Center’s work is straightforward: Engage in equity-driven, visionary, and social justice-oriented work and build the structures around the work that support the principles and commitments of our work.

There are a handful of community-based initiatives already underway, and we hope that students, GSOE faculty, and community partners will consider the Center as a platform to collaborate, build, and leverage their collective energy, expertise, and funding opportunities to do the work that matters.

CET’s Key Areas of Emphasis:

The Center may embrace many objectives including:

Collaborative and Participatory Research in school- and community-based settings including work with non-profit organizations
Professional Development and Consulting with the district and other partners who may leverage the Center’s expertise for research, assessment, and institutional troubleshooting
Community Development such as working with youth engagement and Ethnic Studies development work
Local/National Voice through various methods including research reports, blogs, policy briefs, op-eds, and engaging some of the voices from the region
Leadership Development by providing support to GSOE faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates through research fellowships and similar opportunities

Challenges in the Inland Empire:

The challenges facing our communities in the Inland Empire are quite expansive and include:

Inequitable access to quality early childhood educational opportunities and the subsequent challenges with Kindergarten preparedness
Reading and mathematics proficiency in the early elementary years
Understanding the ramifications of testing, class size, and disciplinary policies from elementary through high school
Quality middle school education
A-G access, issues, culturally and community relevant teachers, and school dropout pushout
Long-term English Learners across the Inland Empire even among U.S. born and/or students who have attended K-12 in the U.S.
Intentionally building curricular/pedagogical relevance through Ethnic Studies and other proven policy solutions
Lack of representation in most policymaking bodies particularly among Communities of Color
Collaborating across the PK-12, community college, 4-year institutions, and non-education sectors such as health, housing, economic development, business, and the clergy

Promises in the Inland Empire: