My mission is to change the face of education for our children growing up
consulting
In Historically And Systemically Marginalized Communities Globally
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A little about me:
and that it is through what we do pedagogically that we can change the world. I leverage my passion and skills as an educator, experience designer, facilitator, and coach to support individuals and organizations at the intersections of identity development and liberatory pedagogy.
As a first-generation Honduran Puerto Rican Americana and education-leader with over twenty years of experience, my entire life journey has led me here. My identity, my personal and professional experiences, my strengths, and my passions have beautifully and powerfully become interwoven with my life’s work.
I deeply believe that impactful and lasting transformational change comes first from within,
BÁRBARA escudero
More About me
You teach them to transform it
Schooling is the process by which you Institutionalize people to accept their place in a society…
Education is the process through which you teach them to transform it.
-Dr. Jeff Duncan-Andrade
Work With Me
01
partnering
Designing and facilitating holistic learning experiences (professional development)
I design and lead holistic learning experiences that engage and empower and that are grounded in people and context. All learning experiences I design are unique and begin with conversations that help me understand your vision, goals, and mission, as well as your organization’s key strengths and opportunities for growth. Equipped with this information, we identify the focus of development and create learning experiences that are aligned with and speak to each of those components.
Whether it be a course, workshop, a learning series or retreat, virtual or in-person delivery, my work inherently generates trust and creates the brave environment needed for individuals to engage in deep reflection, core connection, and transformational learning.
02
Advisory and Program design
I partner with you to advise you, co-design programs and arcs of development, or co-create learning experiences with you that are based on your goals and that center your audience and context.
03
Pedagogical audits
I partner with you to advise yoI partner with you to review and audit your curriculum, culture, systems, and structures through a Culturally Relevant/Responsive/Sustaining and/or Linguistically Responsive lens. In doing so, I offer feedback on where and how to improve your practices based on your strengths and find opportunities for growth and development. u, co-design programs and arcs of development, or co-create learning experiences with you that are based on your goals and that center your audience and context.
04
Leadership and Executive Coaching
I help leaders who desire to lead authentically, boldly, and impactfully to align who they are as people and their unique gifts and strengths to their vision and purpose as leaders - their heart and mind to their intentions and actions. In other words, strengthen and align their “who” and “why” to their “how” and “what.” I use my unique approach that combines Energy Leadership™ and transformational, liberatory coaching.
My areas of
expertise include:
expertise
Liberatory Pedagogy (Culturally Relevant/Responsive/Sustaining/Reality Pedagogy)
Supporting Linguistically Diverse students & Linguistically Responsive Teaching
Bilingual Education (Spanish/English)
Teaching and Learning
Liberatory Leadership training and development
Learning experience design and facilitation
I partner with educators, leaders, schools, school districts, and organizations that are committed to dismantling the inequities that exist in our education systems by centering their practices in Culturally Relevant/Responsive/Sustaining Pedagogy (CR-SE).
How Our clients
show their love
Our values are like a compass; a navigational tool we can use to guide us and our decisions in life. Knowing our values and leveraging them as guides allows us to feel more aligned in every aspect of our lives to who are at our core and what we deeply care about.
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TESTIMONIAL
Bárbara’s deep content knowledge around CR-SE was evident on first meeting her
Director, NYC-based education non-profit
Jennie B.
as was her experience in teaching, training, and designing related to this area. She demonstrated a clear commitment to and passion for the work from the outset, and was able to speak clearly and thoughtfully to how she might design and approach a complex, nuanced project. Bárbara is a true expert in her field, but brings the humility and humanity of a lifelong learner to her work and collaboration, with listening and responsiveness at the center of her work. Her combination of skill sets is unique - she is adept at content design, PD facilitation, and sophisticated collaboration in a way that is hard to find. She models the responsiveness she teaches, and this was noted by our staff.
Bárbara is authentic, intentional, experienced, and a visionary.
Director of Learner Variability & Special Education, National Teacher Leadership Development team, Teach For America
Jean P.
She brings her whole self to the work and creates the conditions for others to do the same. She designs PD experiences that take into consideration where all participants may be entering. The session she designed and facilitated at our winter retreat last fiscal year continues to be one people talk about as a highlight of their year and PD. A teammate shared feeling seen in a session for the first time... maybe ever. Bárbara DID THAT. She creates environments where all people thrive.
Bárbara has such deep love for our students.
Founder, IMM Schools
Viridiana C.
Her passion AND expertise for supporting Linguistically Diverse students and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy are so compelling and bring people into her mission/vision. Her experience as a 20+ year educator is just so present in everything she does. It's clear from her design to facilitation that she is working towards liberation for and with our students and it's an inspiration and guiding light for me as a peer.
success
stories
Bárbara’s deep content knowledge around CR-SE was evident on first meeting her, as was her experience in teaching, training, and designing related to this area.
Director, NYC-based education non-profit
Jennie B.,
She demonstrated a clear commitment to and passion for the work from the outset, and was able to speak clearly and thoughtfully to how she might design and approach a complex, nuanced project. Bárbara is a true expert in her field, but brings the humility and humanity of a lifelong learner to her work and collaboration, with listening and responsiveness at the center of her work. Her combination of skill sets is unique - she is adept at content design, PD facilitation, and sophisticated collaboration in a way that is hard to find. She models the responsiveness she teaches, and this was noted by our staff.
Bárbara has such deep love for our students.
Founder, IMM Schools
Viridiana C.
Her passion AND expertise for supporting Linguistically Diverse students and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy are so compelling and bring people into her mission/vision. Her experience as a 20+ year educator is just so present in everything she does. It's clear from her design to facilitation that she is working towards liberation for and with our students and it's an inspiration and guiding light for me as a peer.
that's what they said
Bárbara is authentic, intentional, experienced, and a visionary.
Director of Learner Variability & Special Education,
National Teacher Leadership Development team, Teach For America
Jean, P.
She brings her whole self to the work and creates the conditions for others to do the same. She designs PD experiences that take into consideration where all participants may be entering. The session she designed and facilitated at our winter retreat last fiscal year continues to be one people talk about as a highlight of their year and PD. A teammate shared feeling seen in a session for the first time... maybe ever. Bárbara DID THAT. She creates environments where all people thrive.
When I dare to be powerful
When I dare to be powerful -
To use my strength in service of my vision
Then it becomes less and less important
Whether I am afraid.
-Audre Lorde
More about me
I was born in Brooklyn and raised in the Bronx by my beautiful, resilient mother who clipped her wings so that my brother and I could fly. I quickly learned that education was the “ticket out,” and was determined to make my mother proud. I had the fortune of having a few teachers who believed in and supported me in gaining access to the resources I needed to go to good schools– access that would then open doors for me to go to college.
I was the first in my family to attend college, and in 2001 I graduated from Cornell University with a B.S. in Human Development and Family Studies.
I am a proud first-generation Latina.
Determined to give back to my community and make a difference, I moved back to the Bronx to serve as a bilingual teacher. I was on fire about becoming the best teacher I could possibly be for my students and supporting them on their journey towards self-actualization. In my first two years, I was awarded 27 grants totaling over $12,000 for classroom resources and materials via Donors Choose and was featured in various media networks for successful first year teaching including the Oxygen Network, Nightline, The New York Times, and Telemundo. To put it simply, I loved what I did.
My students inspired me and grounded me every single day and were mirrors for me of this unequivocal truth: We are inherently brilliant, whole, and complete no matter how much the world tries to convince us otherwise. They showed me my life’s purpose: facilitating the process of, as Audre Lorde wrote, “defining myself for myself.”
During my first two years of teaching, I completed my Masters in Bilingual/Bicultural Education at Columbia University, Teachers College. I proudly served as a classroom teacher for twelve years.
I fell in love with my students and the art of teaching.
“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for”
After completing twelve amazing years in the classroom, I answered the call to expand the scope of my impact and went on to become the Managing Director of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and Supporting Linguistically Diverse students on Teach For America’s national Teacher Leadership development team.
My work impacted over 2,000 national and regional staff members, 3,000 teachers, and 75,000+ students annually across 52 regions nationwide. I set the organization-wide vision for excellence in teaching and learning for Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP) and Supporting Linguistically Diverse students. I developed and built the capacity of staff members to align with and actualize that vision throughout the various phases of a participant’s journey. I designed and facilitated powerful adult learning experiences (live and virtual), instituting critical training on CRP and supporting Linguistically Diverse students organization-wide for the first time in the 25-year-history of the organization. In order to help educators understand and apply Culturally Relevant Pedagogy to their daily practice, I published How to Practice Culturally Relevant Pedagogy.
Experience began to show me that our “who” informs our “how, what, and why,” both in the classroom and in life. We cannot work on our practice if we don't work on ourselves, because our practice is a reflection of the beliefs and values we hold. Through these years, I gained clarity on the importance of exploring how our personal experiences and social conditioning impact the way we view the world, how we show up, our actions. and what we believe is possible.
The teacher living the teaching
My work centers on facilitating the individual and collective empowerment and liberation of marginalized, underserved communities globally through transformational, liberatory coaching and quality, holistic pedagogical training. I am passionate about our individual and collective liberation and know that it is inextricably linked. If we want to change the inequitable systems in our world, we must work on the conscious and unconscious systems operating within ourselves. In order to support our students to be empowered, fully seen, and known, we must also be empowered, fully seen, and known. Our liberation is already within.
As an educator, certified professional coach, facilitator, learning experience designer, liberation practitioner, and lover of life, I am the teacher living the teaching. I love the work I do and am grateful and humbled I get to do it every single day. To me, this is not “work.”
This is my calling.
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Interested in Partnering?
Book your complimentary connection call to discuss your goals and explore how I might be able to support you.
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