REPRESENT
Patricia Valente commits her life to equity in the classroom
By Aubrey Henson
For Patricia Valente ’05, M.S. ’16, working in a classroom means working with a diverse group of students who come from different backgrounds, and her life’s work is dedicated to ensuring all students feel welcome, seen, and supported in their classroom.
Valente has worked in bilingual classrooms for many years. She currently serves as the director of multilingual and multicultural programming at Rantoul City Schools. She also teaches education courses at both Illinois State and Millikin University. Valente is an avid teacher recruiter and is active within ISU to help future teachers understand the importance of diversity and equity within the school system.
As a bilingual educator, she has worked to bring the community into the schools and the schools into the community. Valente is an active leader in Rantoul City School’s Bilingual Parent Advisory Council. She serves as a board member of the Illinois State Board of Education Multilingual Department Illinois Advisory Council on Bilingual Education (IACBE). She has been a leader in Conexiones Latinos in Bloomington-Normal as well as participated in the Multicultural Leadership Institute.
“I love being involved in the community,” said Valente. “I really enjoy working with students and making sure that they have everything they need to be successful.”
Valente actively collaborates with local and private universities to teach, research, and organize student teacher collaboration with the school district around bilingual and English as a second language education. She has co-published various articles in Language Arts. The most recent was called, “The Many Shapes and Possibilities of Learning with and in Community: Connecting across Literacy Educators and Contexts of Collaboration.”
Her current role allows her the opportunity to collaborate with talented teachers, administrators, paraprofessionals, and families around the many aspects of bilingual programming that impact student growth. Throughout her work, she has come to fully understand the importance of equity, diversity, and representation within the classroom.
“I am a huge advocate for diversity and representation in the classroom. I believe that it is important for students to see themselves represented within the school, coursework, and the community.” Knowing how important it is to be represented, Valente focuses on making sure the support starts at the top, with her fellow colleagues.
Valente has a gift for recognizing untapped potential in her staff, patiently and masterfully supporting them. Taking the time to establish a personal connection with staff, parents, and students has always been a priority. She has gone above and beyond to welcome new students and families by assisting them with acquiring their basic needs. She is a champion for diversity and equity, being an active and vocal member of the district Equity Committee, recruiting talented bilingual staff, and valiantly starting difficult conversations about privilege and inequity.
Growing up, Valente considered herself an underdog, and still to this day she continues to fight for equity and diversity in the school system.
“There were, and still are, so many systems in place that lock people out,” said Valente. “Knowing I can help break open those systems so everyone can get support is very fulfilling.”
Recruiting and supporting future educators is another big part of Valente’s role. She actively participates in one of the largest ISU teacher recruitment events, the Future Teacher Conference.
“My topic for the conference always focuses on diversity and equity in the classroom,” said Valente. “I really enjoy supporting the next generation of teachers and showing them how amazing working with such diverse students can be.”
She takes great pride in the fact that her work will help support both students and future teachers for generations to come.