Sylvia Celedón-Pattichis is a professor of bilingual/bicultural education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. She recently served as senior associate dean for research and community engagement and director of the Center for Collaborative Research and Community Engagement in the College of Education at The University of New Mexico.
Celedón-Pattichis prepares elementary pre-service teachers in the bilingual/ESL cohort to teach mathematics and teaches graduate level courses in bilingual education. She taught mathematics at Rio Grande City High School in Rio Grande City, Texas for four years. Her research interests focus on studying linguistic and cultural influences on the teaching and learning of mathematics, particularly with bilingual students. She was a co-principal investigator (PI) of the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Center for the Mathematics Education of Latinos/as (CEMELA). She is currently a lead-PI or co-PI of three NSF-funded projects that broaden the participation of Latinx students in mathematics and computer programming in rural and urban contexts.
She serves as a National Advisory Board member of several NSF-funded projects and as an Editorial Board member of the Bilingual Research Journal, Journal of Latinos and Education and Teachers College Record. Her current work is a special issue on Teaching and Learning Mathematics and Computing in Multilingual Contexts through Teachers College Record. She co-edited three books published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics titled Access and Equity: Promoting High Quality Mathematics in Grades PreK-2 and Grades 3-5 and Beyond Good Teaching: Advancing Mathematics Education for ELLs.
Celedón-Pattichis was a recipient of the Innovation in Research on Diversity in Teacher Education Award from the American Educational Research Association, and the 2011 Senior Scholar Reviewer Award from the National Association of Bilingual Education. She was also a recipient of the Regents Lectureship Award, the Faculty of Color Research Award, Chester C. Travelstead Endowed Faculty Award, and the Faculty of Color Mentoring Award to recognize her research, teaching, and service at The University of New Mexico. The accomplishments she is most proud of are her two daughters, Rebecca and Antonia Pattichis.
Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction (Bilingual and Mathematics Education), University of Texas at Austin, 1998
M.Ed. in Mathematics Education, University of Texas at Austin, 1994
B.S.Ed. in Secondary Mathematics and Spanish, University of Texas at Austin, 1990
Vice President, (Publications, Heising-Simons Leadership Team, among others), TODOS: Mathematics for All(2021 - 2024)
Editorial Board Member, Teachers College Record(2020 - Present)
Chair, Research Committee, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics(2018 - 2019)
Editorial Board Member, Bilingual Education Research Journal(2011 - Present)
Editorial Board Member, Journal of Latinos and Education(2011 - Present)
Crespo, S., Celedón-Pattichis, S. & Civil, M. (2018). Access and equity: Promoting high quality mathematics, grades 3-5. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Celedón-Pattichis, S., Lunney Borden, L., Pape, S., Males, J., Chapman, O. & Leonard, J. (2018). Asset-based approaches to equitable mathematics education research and practice. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 49(4), 373–389.
Celedón-Pattichis, S., White, D. & Civil, M. (2017). Access and equity: Promoting high quality mathematics, Pre-K-grade 2. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Aguirre, J., Herbel-Eisenmann, B., Celedón-Pattichis, S., Civil, M., Wilkerson, T., Stephan, M., Pape, S. & Clements, D. (2017). Equity within mathematics education research as a political act: Moving from choice to intentional collective professional responsibility. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 48(2), 124–147.
Reierson, S. & Celedón-Pattichis, S. (2014). Transforming borders through English use and service-oriented cultural capital: A case study of indigenous Honduran immigrants. Latin American Perspectives, 41(3), 208–219. doi:10.1177/0094582X14524361.
Celedón-Pattichis, S., LópezLeiva, C., Pattichis, M. & Llamocca, D. (2013). An interdisciplinary collaboration between computer engineering and mathematics / bilingual education to develop a curriculum for underrepresented middle school students. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 8(4), 873–887. doi:10.1007/s11422-013-9516-5.
Musanti, S. & Celedón-Pattichis, S. (2013). Promising pedagogical practices for emergent bilinguals in kindergarten: Towards a mathematics discourse community. Journal of Multilingual Education Research, 4(1), 41–62.
Celedón-Pattichis, S. & Ramirez, N. (2012). Beyond good teaching: Advancing mathematics education for ELLs. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Celedón-Pattichis, S. & Turner, E. (2012). Explícame tu respuesta: Supporting the development of mathematical discourse in emergent bilingual kindergarten students. Bilingual Research Journal, 35(2), 197–216.
Musanti, S. & Celedón-Pattichis, S. (2012). They need to know they can do math: Reaching equity and bilingual teachers perceptions of integrating contextualized word problems. Journal of Bilingual Education Research and Instruction, 14(1), 80–94.
Turner, E. & Celedón-Pattichis, S. (2011). Mathematical problem solving among Latina/o kindergartners: An analysis of opportunities to learn. Journal of Latinos and Education, 10(2), 146–169.
Celedón-Pattichis, S. (2010). Implementing reform curriculum: Voicing the experiences of an ESL/mathematics teacher. Middle Grades Research Journal, 5(4), 185–198.
Musanti, S., Celedón-Pattichis, S. & Marshall, M. (2009). Reflections on language and mathematics problem solving: A case study of a bilingual first grade teacher. Bilingual Research Journal, 32(1), 25–41.
Kitchen, R., DePree, J., Celedón-Pattichis, S. & Brinkerhoff, J. (2006). Mathematics education at highly effective schools that serve the poor: Strategies for change. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Celedón-Pattichis, S. (2004). Rethinking policies and procedures for placing English language learners in mathematics. NABE Journal of Research and Practice, 2(1), 176–192.
Celedón-Pattichis, S. (2003). Constructing meaning: Think-aloud protocols of ELLs on English and Spanish word problems. Educators for Urban Minorities, 2(2), 74–90.
Major, E. & Celedón-Pattichis, S. (2001). Integrating sociopolitical awareness into a teacher education curriculum. TESOL Journal, 10(1), 21–26.
Developing and Testing Bilingual Curricula that Infuse Authentic Computer Programming Experiences into Middle School Mathematics for Latinx Youth
This project is conducted collaboratively with Dr. Marios S. Pattichis (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering) and Dr. Carlos LópezLeiva (Department of Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies) at the University of New Mexico. Bilingual middle school teachers will co-design lessons with the research team that integrate mathematics and computer programming to implement what is relevant to their curriculum. Teachers will conduct action research projects to learn what worked or not as they implement this integrated curriculum. The project is funded by the National Science Foundation-Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) (Award #1949230). Duration of Project: September 1, 2020 to August 31, 2025.
Computer-Assisted Video Analysis Methods for Understanding Underrepresented Student Participation and Learning in Collaborative Learning Environments
This interdisciplinary research project is conducted collaboratively with Dr. Marios S. Pattichis (Lead Principal Investigator) and Carlos LópezLeiva (Co-PI). This project explores the use of computer-assisted methods for video analysis to support manual coding by researchers. The computer-assisted process creates summaries that can then be used by researchers to identify critical events and to describe patterns of activities in the classroom such as students talking to each other or writing during a small group project. Creating the summaries requires analyzing video for facial recognition, motion, color, and object identification. The project investigates what parts of student participation and teaching can be analyzed using computer-assisted video analysis. The project was funded by the National Science Foundation-EHR Core Research Program and STEM+Computing (EAGERAward #1842220). Duration of Project: September 1, 2018 to August 31, 2020 with a no-cost extension until August 31, 2021.
Broadening Participation of Latina/o Students in Engineering Using an Integrated Mathematics, Engineering and Computing Curriculum in Authentic, Out-of-School Environments
This interdisciplinary project is a collaboration with Drs. Marios S. Pattichis and Carlos LópezLeiva at the University of New Mexico (http://aolme.unm.edu). The goals of the project were to motivate the participation of middle school students in urban and rural settings to pursue STEM and computing (STEM+C) careers. The project developed, implemented, and revised an integrated curriculum that supports the learning of computing fundamentals through the underlying mathematics concepts (https://aolme.unm.edu/WebsiteModel/template/index.html). The after-school learning experiences focused on authentic work of computer engineers, student learning about computer programming using Python, engineering design, and mathematics concepts. The bilingual middle schools in the study had high enrollment of Latinx students, a population which is under-represented in STEM majors in college and in STEM careers in the United States. The project was funded by the National Science Foundation-Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) and STEM+Computing (Award #1613637). Duration of Project: September 1, 2016 to August 31, 2019 with a no-cost extension until August 31, 2021.
Center for the Mathematics Education of Latinas/os (CEMELA)
CEMELA was an interdisciplinary Center for Learning and Teaching that brought together researchers in mathematics education, mathematics, language, culture, sociology, and anthropology to focus on the research and practice of the teaching and learning of mathematics of Latina/o students (K-8) in the United States. CEMELAs goal was to create a cadre of approximately 40 postdoctoral and doctoral with integrated expertise in mathematics, language, and culture. The University of New Mexico, the University of Arizona, the University of Santa Cruz, and the University of Illinois-Chicago partnered with school districts to develop theory and practice for how to turn language and cultural diversity into educational assets for the mathematics education of all students. CEMELA (http://cemela.math.arizona.edu) carried out studies in the following three areas: Student learning, teaching/teacher education, and parental/community engagement in mathematics. This project was funded by the National Science Foundation, Center for Learning and Teaching (Award ESI#0424983). Duration of Project: 2004-2011 with no-cost extensions.
Featured Mathematician, Lathisms (Latinx/Hispanics in the Mathematical Sciences) (2019)
Chester C. Travelstead Endowed Faculty Fellowship, College of Education at the University of New Mexico (2014 - 2016)
Faculty of Color Mentoring Award, Project for New Mexico Graduates of Color at the University of New Mexico (2012)
2011 Senior Scholar Reviewer's Award, National Association for Bilingual Education (2012)
Faculty of Color Research Award, Project for New Mexico Graduates of Color at the University of New Mexico (2011)
Innovation in Research on Diversity in Teacher Education Award, American Educational Research Association (Division K: Teaching/Teacher Education) (2010)
Regent's Lecturer Award, University of New Mexico (2008 - 2011)
