Jose Lalas

Jose Lalas has been involved in teacher education for 31 years as a faculty member in both public and private universities (14 years at CSU Dominguez Hills; currently, 17 years at University of Redlands). Prior to his teacher education experience, Lalas was a junior high school classroom teacher. He has served as an associate dean, director of teacher education, and coordinator of credential program. Currently, he is professor of literacy and teacher education and directs the University of Redlands' Center for Educational Justice. He is now completing a co-authored edited book on Daring to Transform Educational Inequities with Inclusion, Justice, and Hope: Mind the Margins. 

Lalas has been married for 41 years to his wife Linda. They have four grown-up children: Jonah, a UCLA undergraduate and Berkeley Law School graduate, was a union organizer and is now a lawyer; Jeremy, a UCLA undergraduate and Harvard Master of Education graduate, is an elementary and middle school teacher in New York; Joanna, a University of Redlands undergraduate and with New York University's Master of Arts in Education degree, is an experienced U.S. history, world history, and government high school teacher in New York; Jolene, a UC Berkeley undergraduate and Columbia University master's degree in public health graduate, recently completed her Doctor of Education degree in health sciences from Columbia University and works as a research coordinator in New York.

• Ph.D., reading/language arts with emphasis in dual language instruction, University of Washington
• Ed.S., program administration, reading/language arts, Seattle Pacific University
• M.Ed., reading/language arts, Seattle Pacific University
• B.S., University of the Philippines
• K–8 Clear Credential

Lalas is professor of literacy and teacher education and directs the University of Redlands' Center for Educational Justice. He co-authored four published books: A Teaching and Learning Framework for Social Justice (2006), Instructional Adaptation as an Equity Solution for English Learners and Special Needs Students (2007), Who We Are and How We Learn: Educational Engagement and Justice for Diverse Learners (2016), and Challenges Associated with Cross-cultural and At-risk Student Engagement (2017). He is now completing a co-authored edited book on Daring to Transform Educational Inequities with Inclusion, Justice, and Hope: Mind the Margins. His research agenda includes student engagement, social and educational justice, critical theory, pedagogy, and literacy, adaptation pedagogy, achievement gap, second language acquisition, and mentoring of diverse faculty. His most current research work focuses on student engagement and achievement gap and the influence of social and cultural capital, social class, funds of knowledge, and language in dual language immersion programs. Lalas is currently completing several articles on critical theory and resistance in education.

• Equity policy development
• Literacy pedagogy
• Meaning-making for all students
• Second language development
• Social and educational justice

• Lalas, J., & Strikwerda, H. (under contract; in process). Mind the margins: Advancing educational equity, justice, and engagement through inclusion pedagogy for the marginalized students. United Kingdom: Emerald Publishing.
• Gordon, R., Akutsu, T., McDermott, C., & Lalas, J. (2017). Challenges associated with cross-cultural and at-risk student engagement. Hershey, Pennsylvania: IGI Global.
• Lalas, J., Macias, A., Fortner, K., Flores, N., Balogun, A., & Vance, M. (2016). Who we are and how we learn: Educational engagement and justice for diverse learners. San Diego: Cognella Publishing.
• Lalas, J., & Solomon, M. (2007). Instructional adaptation as an equity solution for English learners and special needs students: Practicing educational justice in the mainstream classroom. Des Moines, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing.
• Gordon, R., Lalas, J., & McDermott, C. (2006). Omni-education: A learning and teaching framework for social justice. Des Moines, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing.

• California School Board Association/Asian Pacific Caucus: Award of Merit

• California Association for Bilingual Education
• California Council on Teacher Education
• California School Board Association
• International Literacy Association
• National Association for Bilingual Education