Dr. Patricia Espiritu Halagao is the founder and principal member of Global Teach. She is a professor of education, a teacher, a community activist, published author, wife and mother of Marissa and Jordan.

Professional Background

Dr. Halagao is an Associate Professor at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa’s College of Education. Her teaching and research interests are social studies and multicultural education with an emphasis on decolonizing pedagogy, and the development and evaluation of culturally responsive curriculum. She is particularly interested in using her scholarship to improve the educational experiences of disenfranchised ethnic groups like Filipinos and Pacific Islanders and is currently piloting an undergraduate certificate focused on culture-based learning and teaching at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.

Educational Background

Dr. Halagao received her Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Washington’s College of Education under the mentorship of Walter Parker, Geneva Gay, and James Banks. She received her Teaching Credential from San Francisco State University while she was a Teach for America (TFA) Corp member (Oakland, ’92). Dr. Halagao has diverse teaching experiences at the elementary, middle, high school, and college-level.

Academia & Community

Dr. Halagao grounds her work in academia and community activism. She was a Board member of the Filipino Youth Activities, Inc. and Associate Producer for Sining KilUSAn, a nonprofit Filipino American Arts organization in Seattle. She co-authored the only multicultural program and curriculum focused on Filipino history and culture entitled “Pinoy Teach.” For her groundbreaking achievement in Filipino American history and education, she received the 2000 “Young Pioneer Award” from the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) and was recently recognized by the Filipina Women’s Network as 2009’s 100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the U.S.

Dr. Halagao was the co-chair of the program committee of the FANHS 2006 Biennial Conference in Honolulu. She is currently a Trustee for FANHS serving on the FANHS General Fundraising committee and Filipino American Museum ad-hoc committee. She is the recipient of 2006 & 2007 Smithsonian Institution grants to develop their Centennial online and multimedia Filipino American curriculum, iJeepney.com.

Dr. Halagao has taken an active role in research and the curriculum renewal efforts at schools with high concentrations of Filipino American students in Hawai‘i. She has served as an educational consultant for two educational grant projects in the Campbell and Waipahu complex in Hawai‘i and is currently coordinating an online partnership and research project between teachers at Waipahu High School and Mililani High School.

Conference Presentations and Multicultural Trainings

• Literature Review of K-12 Filipino American Curriculum. American Educational Research Association (AERA) San Diego, CA. April 2009
• From Web-based to Classroom Learning: Training Teachers on an Online Filipino American Curriculum. Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS), Anchorage, AK. July 2008
• The Long-term Effects of a Decolonizing Curriculum. American Educational Research Association (AERA), Chicago, IL. April 2007
• Teaching Filipino American Students. National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME). Seattle, WA. November 2003.
• Filipino Americans and Education: Culturally Relevant Teaching. College of Education. University of Hawai‘i. April 2003
• To Know, Care, and Act: Teaching Filipino American Students. Kalakaua Middle School. Honolulu, HI. October 2002
• Beyond Lumpia, Tinikling, and Cockfighting: An Introduction to a Multicultural Curriculum. Hawai‘i State Association of Middle Schools (HAMS) Annual Conference. Honolulu, HI. October 2001
• Filipino History Curriculum and Pedagogy. Washington State History Museum, Tacoma, WA. October 2000

Select Publications

• Halagao, P.E. (in press). Liberating Filipino Americans Through Decolonizing Curriculum. Race, Ethnicity & Education.
• Halagao, P.E., Cordova, J. M., Tintiangco-Cubales, A. (under review) Critical Literature Review of K-12 Filipino American Curriculum. AAPI Nexus: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Policy, Practice and Community
• Halagao, P.E. (2007). Culturally Relevant Education. In Ross, W. & Matthison, S., Battleground Schools. Philadelphia: Greenwood Press.
• Miller-Lane, J., Howard, T. & Halagao, P.E. (2007). Civic Multicultural Competence: Searching for High & Common Ground in Democratic Education, Theory on Research and Social Education. 35 (4), pp. 551-573.
• Halagao, P.E. (2006) Questioning the “Aloha” in a multicultural teacher education course. Asian Pacific Journal of Education 26(1). pp. 37-50.
• Halagao, P.E. (2004). Holding up the mirror: The complexity of seeing your ethnic self in history. Theory on Research and Social Education. 32 (4), pp. 459-483.
• Halagao, P.E. (2004). Teaching Filipino American students. Multicultural Review. 13 (1). pp 42-48.
• Castillo, A. & Halagao, P.E. (2004). Making cultural connections. Kappa Delta Pi Record. 41(1), p. 48.
• Halagao, P.E. (2004). Bringing Banks’ multicultural typology to life: When curriculum and pedagogy are transformed. Electronic Magazine of Multicultural Education. 6 (1). http://www.eastern.edu/publications/emme/2004spring/halagao.html.
• Halagao, P. E. (2003). Unifying Mind and Soul through Cultural Knowledge. In G. Gay (Ed.), Becoming Multicultural Educators: Personal Journey Toward Professional Agency (pp. 194-220). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Espiritu, P. C., & Cordova, T. (2002). Teacher Manual for Pinoy Teach: A multicultural curriculum exploring Filipino history and culture (4th ed.).Seattle: Filipino Youth Activities, Inc.
• Cordova, T., & Espiritu, P. C. (2001). Pinoy Teach: A multicultural curriculum exploring Filipino history and culture (4th ed.). Seattle: Filipino Youth Activities, Inc.
• Espiritu, P. C., & Cordova, T. (1999). Pinoy Teach Activity Booklet. Seattle: Filipino Youth Activities, Inc.
• Reviewed “Asian Americans” (Chapter 10) in J. A. Banks (Ed.) (1997), Teaching strategies for ethnic studies (sixth ed.), Boston: Allyn & Bacon, (pp. 459-466).