The Belonging and Trust Study

Crown banner white_right aligned
The Belonging and Trust Study

The Belonging and Trust Study

The Belonging and Trust research study engages Latinx students, their families, and public school educators to develop and enhance curricula, policies, and practices that support experiences of belonging and trust for students and their families in public schools. The study uses qualitative, multimodal, and participatory methods of research and design to center student and family voices in the creation of culturally sustaining and caring school cultures.ÌýÌý

Central to the Belonging and Trust project is the practice ofÌýmultimodalÌýtestimonio, or the process of sharing personal narratives via multimodal resources, as a way to validate lived experiences that are often marginalized or unseen. Out of this broader project, we have developed multiple strands of work that bring multimodal storytelling into public schools and spaces by which to create culturally sustaining pedagogies and communities of belonging and trust.Ìý

This project is not currently offering programs or actively collecting research. Our PIs continue to analyze data and support schools and practitioners in implementing multimodalÌý³Ù±ð²õ³Ù¾±³¾´Ç²Ô¾±´Ç. This work was made possible by the collective contributions of this team, as well as the students, educators, and parents, and community members who participated as research participants and co-designers!

Principal Investigators (PI)

The full team at the time of implementation included:Ìý

  • Elena Aranda
  • Polet Carrasco
  • Emily Gleason
  • Deena Gumina
  • Monica Lozano
  • Iris Morales
  • Adria Padilla-Chavez
  • Michelle Shedro
  • Kathy Schultz
  • Blanca Trejo Aguilera
  • Mabel Weber
  • Julia Zigarelli

Publications & Presentations

Alvarez, A., Teeters, L. P., Penuel, W. R., & Esteban-Guitart, M. (2023). Considerations to engage a funds of identity approach as a vehicle toward epistemic justice in educational settings. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 40, 100718. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lcsi.2023.100718Ìý

Teeters, L. P., Shedro, M., Alvarez, A., Schultz, K., Gleason, E., Zigarelli, J. C. & Trejo, B., (2023). Circles de confianza: using multimodal testimonios to build culturally sustaining schools. Enthography and Education, 18:4, 356-375. Ìý

Teeters, L. P., Trejo, B., Gleason, E., Zigarelli, J. C., Shedro, M., Alvarez, A., & Schultz, K. (2022). Circles de confianza: Promoting the well-being of Latine Youth via Multimodal Testimonio. Journal of Latinos and Education, 1–13.  Ìý

McKimmy, C., Teeters, L. P., Alvarez, A., Pacheco, J. E., Boeldt, D., Carol, E., Robledo Yamamoto, F., Shedro, M., Zigarelli, J. C., & Dimidjian, S. (2021). Nuestra Escuela, Nuestras Voces (Our School, Our Voices): Using Photovoice to Understand and Promote Compassion in Schools. In Journal of Latinos and Education (pp. 1–17). Informa UK Limited. doi: 10.1080/15348431.2021.1979556Ìý

Alvarez, A.Ìý(Accepted).ÌýA Multilingual Multimodal Project-based Approach to Invite and Integrate Children’s Funds of Knowledge and Identity in Classroom Learning.ÌýSymposium. Early Language Learning and Multilingual Education in Early Childhood Conference. Granada, Spain.Ìý

Alvarez, A. (Accepted).ÌýFrom Theory to Praxis: Engaging Multimodality, Agency, and Imagination within Funds of Knowledge and Identity Pedagogical Approaches in U.S. Classrooms. Symposium: Principles and Praxis to Engage a Funds of Knowledge Approach for Social Justice Purposes in International Contexts. Anthropology and Education International Conference, Royal Anthropological Institute. London, UK.Ìý

Alvarez, A. (2022, December). Multimodality as a Pathway to Bilingual Learners’ Funds of Knowledge. Symposium session: Multimodal Literacies in Emergent Bilinguals: Beyond Print-Centric Practices. Literacy Research Association Annual Conference (LRA). Phoenix, AZ.Ìý          ÌýÌý

Alvarez, A.Ìý(2021, November).ÌýEthnographic Fieldwork through Experiential Knowledge and Multimodal Projects with Young Latinx Children.ÌýSymposium session: Young Children of Color as Experts: Examples from Five Ethnographic Studies with Latinx and Indigenous Communities.ÌýAmerican Anthropological Association Annual Meeting (AAA). Baltimore, MD.Ìý

Alvarez, A., Peña Teeters, L. & Shedro, M. (2021, November).ÌýMultimodal Testimonios of Trust and Distrust of Latinx Families in Schools.ÌýSymposium session:ÌýThe Power of Comunidad: Building Solidarity A Lado de Families and Communities. National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). St. Louis, Missouri.Ìý

Alvarez, A., Gleason, E., Peña Teeters, L., Shedro, M., Schultz, K. & Aranda, E. (2021, April).ÌýRelationships de Confianza: Trust and Distrust in Latinx Family-School Rela