ISU education professors seek expert input from Perry’s Rosa Gonzalez

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Professors in the Iowa State University School of Education , from left, Manali J. Sheth, Mollie H. Applegate and Christa Jackson met last week with Perry's Rosa Gonzalez, ISU Extension and Outreach specialist in family life and human sciences, to plan ways to bring cultural awareness to elementary school math and reading programs,

Three assistant professors in the Iowa State University School of Education visited Perry last week to meet with Rosa Morales de Gonzalez, ISU Extension and Outreach specialist in family life and human sciences, in order to discuss ways to make elementary mathematics and language arts classes more culturally relevant to young students.

The ISU education professors, Manali J. Sheth, Mollie H. Applegate and Christa Jackson, turned to Gonzalez for her long and varied experience in Perry and her awareness of the needs of immigrant and non-native-English-speaking students when it comes to learning core subjects such as math and reading.

“Rosa is a wealth of insight and knowledge,” said Jackson. “She’s seen at first-hand a lot of the challenges students face.”

Applegate said she and her colleagues are doing research on curriculum development entirely on their own, as an independent project and without any university funding.

“At this point, it’s just us,” Applegate said. “That said, this kind of research can sometimes lead to new programs that do get funding. But that’s not our main goal. We want to help make teaching and learning more effective for all students. That’s the real point.”

With more than 10 years’ experience in Perry as an ISU Extension and Outreach family life specialist, Gonzalez is a well known figure in the local community among both Latino and white populations. Her work with Hispanics United for Perry (HUP) also makes her a bridge between Perry’s language communities.

“These professors are doing very interesting work on curriculum,” Gonzalez said, “and I am happy to help them if I can. Perry and its teachers have a lot of experience in this area.”

The three professors have agreed to share their findings with ThePerryNews.com when they come to issue a report.

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