Dr. Kritsonis has traveled and lectured extensively throughout the United States and world-wide. Some international travels include Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, Turkey, Italy, Greece, Monte Carlo, England, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Poland, Germany, Mexico, the Caribbean Islands, Mexico, Switzerland, Grand Cayman, Haiti, St. Maarten, St. John, St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Lucia, Puerto Rico, Nassau, Freeport, Jamaica, Barbados, Martinique, Canada, Curacao, Costa Rico, Aruba, Venezuela, Panama, Bora Bora, Tahiti, Latvia, Spain, Honduras, and many more. He has been invited to lecture and serve as a guest professor at many universities across the nation and abroad.

1. NATIONAL FORUM OF APPLIED EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH JOURNAL
VOLUME 29, NUMBERS 1 & 2, 2016
FOREWORD
his issue begins our 29th year of publishing the NATIONAL FORUM OF
APPLIED EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH JOURNAL. The journal was
founded in the interest of publishing the best original articles by educational
researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians on a variety of viewpoints for persons interested in
teacher education.
T
Professors, theoreticians, educational researchers, practitioners, directors of research
and service, deans, chairpersons, university administrators, curriculum and instruction
specialists, school superintendents, principals, supervisors, classroom teachers, management
consultants, facilitators, school board members, education policy persons, graduate students,
community leaders, and many others represent the cosmopolitan readership of the
NATIONAL FORUM OF APPLIED EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH JOURNAL.
A function of the NATIONAL FORUM OF APPLIED EDUCATIONAL
RESEARCH JOURNAL is to strengthen the established common bond among professors
in higher education and practitioners in schools. The NATIONAL FORUM OF
APPLIED EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH JOURNAL seeks to help maintain a healthy
mutual respect and awareness of the roles, the problems, and the progress of teacher
education in all appropriate settings. NATIONAL FORUM JOURNALS are highly
regarded both nationally and internationally.
About the Issue
I am honored to have Elizabeth T. Murakami and Frank Hernandez serve as
invited guest editors of this special issue of the NATIONAL FORUM OF APPLIED
EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH JOURNAL. Dr. Murakami is a Latin-American born
Professor and Director of Programs in Educational Leadership in the College of Education
and Human Development at Texas A&M-San Antonio. Dr. Hernandez serves as Dean for the
College of Education at The University of Texas of the Permian Basin.
In the first article, Elsa Villarreal explores the impact of institutional and societal
contexts on Chicana resistance and how the Chicana female reflects on her struggles. In the
second article, Hector Lopez chronicles his own pathway through our national system of
public education from secondary school experiences to his current status as an educational
practitioner, leader, and doctoral student. In the third article, Katherine C. Rodela aims to
carve a space for parent leadership within the social justice educational leadership literature,
particularly the undocumented stories and experiences of Latina immigrant mothers. In the
fourth article, Marie A. Valentin, Celestino Valentin, Yvonna Lincoln, and Elsa Gonzalez
recognize the importance of mentoring as a critical success factor in Latino/a’s career and
educational endeavors. In the fifth article, Irma L. Almager examines how a Latina
principal’s dispositions of deficit thinking emerged while conducting research on White
secondary teachers’ perceptions of Mexican American students. In the sixth article, Linda
Prieto and Juan Niño examine the impact of their practitioner experiences on their present-
day professions by sharing their testimonios co-creados as current Latin@ educators at a
Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). In the seventh and final article, Miguel A. Guajardo and
Samuel Garcia, Jr. chronicle the etymology of a pilot program created by a partnership
between Texas State University’s Education and Community Leadership Program and San
Marcos Consolidated ISD.
The NATIONAL FORUM OF APPLIED EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
JOURNAL will persist in an effort to provide the venue for dissemination of research that
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2. NATIONAL FORUM OF APPLIED EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH JOURNAL
VOLUME 29, NUMBERS 1 & 2, 2016
has the potential to provide the momentum for positive change. To our readers, colleagues,
and friends, thank you for your personal, professional, and especially for your continued
financial support.
William Allan Kritsonis, PhD
Professor
College of Education
The University of Texas of the Permian Basin
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