Biography

Iesha Jackson, an associate professor of teacher education in the Department of Teaching and Learning, is an expert on improving educational outcomes for students of color in urban schools.

Her published research calls attention to the need for equity-based reforms in practices and policies at high schools and in higher education settings. In order to address this, her work frequently applies critical race theory and is situated in three main areas: student voice, culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogies, teacher education, and equity-based, macro-level education policies.

Jackson was featured in several Las Vegas news outlets for her leadership in UNLV's Rebel Academy, a summer program in which graduate students pursuing an accelerated alternative route to licensure (ARL) complete their practicum with local middle school students. Additionally, her service to the North Las Vegas community includes volunteering with several community-based organizations that serve Black and Latinx youth in the area.

In 2021, Jackson concluded a grant project that examined the life histories of in-service Black and Latinx ARL teachers and professional development needs for these teachers' retention. This work has become essential to her current framing of healing-centered pedagogies in urban education and is the basis of her co-edited book, The History of Now: Urban Education, Alternative Routes to Licensure, and the Oral Histories of Black and Latinx Educators.