Both of us are proud of the plant study that we have made. We are proud because we are the first of our tribes to complete something of such importance to the Kashaya Pomo community and other Native Americans. Before we started to gather the plants for our study we took into consideration the feelings of the Kashaya Pomo community. Our hope is that the community will benefit from this study as much as we have. We hope that Kashaya Pomos will teach their children about plants that can heal, teach them about foods they can gather when in need, teach them about the technological uses of plants, and also teach them about the most important part of our culture—the significance of the rituals and ceremonials.

In 1947, five Mexican-American families challenged the ‘separate but equal’ education that their children were getting in non-caucasian schools in the Supreme Court case Mendez vs. Westminster¹ . In Orange County, California, these five families refused to accept this education system that discriminated against their children by considering them “special needs” because they spoke Spanish. Although the Westminster Elementary School allowed the Mendez children to attend their school, they did not allow any other child with Mexican-American descent. The Mendez family denied their offer and continued to sue where Governor Earl Warren would sign a law to end all segregation statutes in the state of California. Although schools were physically desegregated, the academic curriculum is still widely one-sided especially through the readings and history that is taught² . Today, people of color are still forced to endure these segregated teachings that are focused on white culture, while never going in depth about their own culture. Instituting an ethnic and gender studies course would end the mainly white prominent course material and would improve high school graduation rates among People of Color (POC), promote embracing oneself, inform others about different cultures, and provide a positive impact on racial attitudes.

In this argumentative research essay, the idea of an intersectional lens is used examine the class and race of women who are victims of police brutality. With stories of African-American women in low economic cities, it is clear that minority women are more likely to fall victim due to their neighborhood they live in and because of their stereotype of being weak. African-American women are being sexually assaulted and murdered by police and then never receive justice because the media, who can share the story often; however, their stories are never told. In this essay, stories of different types of police assault are told to elucidate the harsh reality that black women face in their own neighborhoods.

Teacher evaluation systems that rely upon subjective observations and are limited to binary rating scales have been criticized for their inability to distinguish highly effective from ineffective teachers.  Largely in response to the Obama administration’s Race to the Top competition for federal funding, school districts are looking to value-added models as a means by which to improve their teacher evaluation systems and promote highly qualified and effective teachers.  Value-added models purport to measure teacher quality by collecting longitudinal student achievement data in the form of standardized test scores.  While value-added models could potentially improve teacher assessment, there are limitations to including students with disabilities in the models.  This literature review examines the promises and criticisms of value-added models, and continues the discussion of measuring special education teacher equality using the standardized test scores of students with disabilities.