Valerie Ooka Pang, Ph.D.

Professor Emerita

School of Teacher Education

San Diego

Phone
619-594-6286
Location
NE-92
Mail Code
1153
Fax
619-594-7828

Bio

I was born in Seattle, Washington, and grew up in Ellensburg, Washington, a small farming town in the central area of the state. I graduated from Seattle University and then taught in Seattle Public Schools at the only neighborhood Black elementary school in the district at the time. Later I earned a Master's in Education at Central Washington University while I taught in the Ellensburg Public School District. I realized I had little knowledge of cultural diversity and advanced methods of teaching so I earned a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Washington. I was a Spencer Post Doctorate Fellow and researched test anxiety in Asian American middle-school students. As a professor in the School of Teacher Education, I taught at San Diego State University. My areas of interest are culturally relevant/responsive education, Social Studies Education, Asian American and Pacific Islander Education, Online Teaching, and Teacher Education. Dr. Luke Duesbery, Andrea Saltzman Martin and I established the fully online Master of Arts in Teaching in the department and our program is ranked by US News and World Report. I was an Annenberg Urban School Reform Fellow at Brown University. I have been honored by the University of Washington’s College of Education, American Education Research Association’s (AERA) Standing Committee on the Role and Status of Minorities in Education, and AERA Research on the Education of Asian Pacific American Special Interest Group.

Courses

Current Course

  • TE 600 Curriculum Development

Past Courses

  • ED 808, Academic Research and Publishing

  • ED 801, Seminar on Social and Cultural Foundations of Multicultural Education

  • ED 795 A and B, Master’s Seminar

  • TE 655, The Social Context of Education

  • TE 615, Teaching Critical Thinking Using Technology

  • TE 605, Innovations in Instruction

  • TE 910B, Teaching Social Studies in the Elementary School

  • ED 451, Introduction to Multicultural Education

  • ED 350, Education in American Society

Education

  • Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, University of Washington
  • M.Ed. in Master Teacher, Central Washington University
  • B.Ed. in Education, Seattle University

Publications

Selected Publications

  • Pang, V. O., Chang, B., Pak, Y., Hokoda, A., Rodriguez, N., & Kim, E. (forthcoming).” Asian American and Pacific Islander Children.” In Paula Groves Price (Ed.), Race and Education. New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.ORE_EDU-01782.R1
  • Pang, V. O., Alvarado, J. L., Preciado, J. R. and Schleicher, A. R. (2021). “Culturally relevant education: Think Local Within a Holistic Orientation,” Multicultural Perspectives, 23(1), 3-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/15210960.2021.1877546 
  • Pang, V. O. and Bercaw, L. (2020, September). “Yikes! Teaching during A Pandemic and Fully Online” New Teacher Tips,” Middle Level Learning, 69, 6-11.
  • Saltzman Martin, A., Pang, V.O., Ginsberg, E., Pang, J.M., Duesbery, L., and Dial, E. (2019, January/February). “Citizenship in Action: Students Create Anti-Bullying Public Service Announcements,” Middle Level Learning, 64, 8-16.
  • Alvarado, J. L., Pang, V. O., and Naranjo, M. (2018). “Multi-culturalism and Education” (2nd edition). Oxford Bibliographies in Childhood Studies. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199791231-0108 http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199791231/obo-9780199791231-0108.xml?rskey=xr1bRg&result=114
  • Lee, D. M., Duesbery, L., Han, P. P., Her, C. S., Tashi, T., and Pang, V. O. (2017). “Academic Needs and Family Factors in the Education of Southeast Asian American Students: Dismantling the Model Minority Myth.” Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement, 12 (2). doi:10.7771/2153-8999.1154
  • Naranjo, M., Pang, V. O., and Alvarado, J. L. (December 2015/January 2016). Summer melts immigrant students’ college plans. The Phi Delta Kappan, 97 (4), 38-41.
  • YenPasook, M., Nguyen, A., Her, C. S., & Pang, V. O. (2015). Defiant: The strength of Asian American and Pacific Islander women. In N. D. Hartlep & B. J. Porfilio (Eds.), Killing the model minority stereotype: Asian American counterstories and complicity. Charlotte, S. Carolina: Information Age Publishing (pp. 61-80). Charlotte, North Carolina: Information Age.
  • Pang, V. O., Lafferty, K. E., Pang, J. M., Griswold, J., and Oser, R. (2014). “Culture Matters in Science: Culturally Relevant Teaching.” Science and Children, 51, 44-49.
  • Pang, V. O., Han, P. P., and Pang, J. M. (2011). "Asian American and Pacific Islander Students: Equity and the Achievement Gap." Educational Researcher, 40 (7), 378-389.

Blogs