ABSTRACT
The Rio Grande Valley (RGV) is a fast-growing area spanning some counties along the northern margin of the Rio Grande. In the RGV, the demographics are quite different from the rest of state and the nation, with Latinx representing 97% of students and 89% of the teachers. There is a significant shortage of teachers from minoritized populations nationwide. In the state of Texas, white children already make up less than half of the school-age population; non-white children constitute a growing majority in cities across Texas, and in much of the US Though these statistical trends are more drastic in Texas, due perhaps to its size and proximity to the border, only 27% of the teaching workforce in the state is Latinx. The US borderlands are a unique geopolitical space that requires context-specific pedagogies, such as specific practices for strengthening academic and linguistic readiness and for developing a critical consciousness in order to ensure educational quality.
