The Association of Italian American Educators, together with The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute is planning to publish a book on the growth and impact of Italian-American educators on the American education system. We are seeking Italian-American educators of all academic disciplines (Arts to Sciences) who have taught and administered in education over the last 70 years, especially since the 1950s, in order to highlight their experiences.

Today, there are more than 676,695 Italian-American educators of all academic disciples (Arts to Sciences) from Pre-k to Post-secondary education. The growth of the percentage of Italian-American educators is greater than the percentage growth of the Italian-American population. Italian-American educators are also quite geographically dispersed throughout the country.

Research using USA census data from 1980 to 2017 demonstrates how the descendants of Italian immigrants recognized the value of education in order to succeed in the educational system. Since 1980 the number of Italian-American educators in the United States from pre-kindergarten to post-secondary studies has more than doubled from 275,500 educators to 676,695 in 2017. The Italian-American educators represented 5.3% of all the educators in 1980, equal approximately to the overall Italian-American population presence and increased to 7.2% of all the educators in 2017 nearly two percentage points above the distribution of Italian Americans in the country.

The growth of the educators of preschool and kindergarten, elementary and middle school, secondary school, special education, and post-secondary increased greatly, especially among women, throughout the United States being more geographically diverse throughout the country than the overall Italian-American population. Since 1980 there was major growth in professional achievements of Italian-American educators, especially in graduate studies. In addition, the Italian-American educators helped to maintain the culture with a larger proficiency in the Italian language than the general Italian American population.

This is a major accomplishment when compared to the wave of Italian immigrants at the turn of the 20th century, when Italian immigrants were considered under-educated and ineducable by historians and sociologists including the Black American sociologist Booker T. Washington (1911). Today Italian-American teachers and professors are educating American society.

We invite you to participate in this study. Please complete the questionnaire clicking here. If you also have a written description of your experience, please forward it to us for possible inclusion. In addition, if you know an educator who should be included, please forward this link to them with your recommendation for them to participate in the survey.

Dr. Vincenzo Milione, AIAE Board member and Director of Demographic Studies at the Calandra Institute, is the Principal Investigator. Dr. Milione has documented the statistical growth of Italian-American educators. The Case Studies will highlight the obstacles and successes of individual educators. For further information and guidance contact Dr. Milione at 212 642 2091 or email [email protected].

Looking forward to your inclusion,

Sincerely,

Josephine A. Maietta