Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., is IDRA’s deputy director of policy. She brings nearly a decade of experience of working in both K-12 and higher education settings, as well as in educational research and advocacy organizations. She focuses on IDRA’s state policy priorities for advancing equity in public education, including school finance, accountability, bilingual education, and issues of local school district governance. She has previously worked with education advocacy coalitions during Texas legislative sessions on issues ranging from access to in-state tuition for undocumented students to increasing bilingual education funding and to enhancing teacher preparation programs.
Dr. Latham Sikes earned her doctoral in the educational policy and planning program at the University of Texas at Austin. Her dissertation examined how school district leaders understand and respond to the effects of immigration policies on their school communities. Her other research interests include student and community engagement in education, the intersections of immigration and educational policy, bilingual education funding, and socio-political influences on the education system and students. Her work has been published in the Oxford Handbook of US K-12 Law, Texas Education Review, and International Journal of Educational Management (forthcoming), among other publications. In 2021, she coauthored with Chandra Kring Villanueva, Creating a More Bilingual Texas – A Closer Look at Bilingual Education in the Lone Start State.
Dr. Latham Sikes is originally from Plano, Texas, and earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and global development studies from Grinnell College. She also holds a master’s of arts degree in cultural studies in education from UT-Austin.
Contact Dr. Latham Sikes at chloe.sikes@idra.org.
Recent Media Coverage & Writing
Podcast: Knowledge is Power: 50 Years of Advancing Education Equity with IDRA, by Scott Atnip, Weekly Witness by Texas Impact, October 27, 2023
Happy Hour 130: Why School Vouchers Are Bad For Texas, And How To Fight Back, Progress Texas Podcasts, October 6, 2023
Plano ISD runs a deficit. Why? It’s sending millions to the state, Caroline Love, KERA News, March 21, 2023 (also published by the Texas Standard, March 23, 2023)
Texas Democrats Double Down on Defending Public Ed, Simone Carter, Dallas Observer, February 27, 2023
Fact check: Democrat says MLK’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech isn’t required reading in Texas schools. Accusatory tweet aimed at Gov. Abbott by Democratic strategist got 9 million views. by Nusaiba Mizan, Houston Chronicle, February 27, 2023
PolitiFact: Are Texas schools required to teach Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream’?, by Nusaiba Mizan, Austin American-Statesman, February 14, 2023
How Texas Schools Are Funded – And Why that Matters to Collective Success – Issue Brief, By Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., August 2022
Making Waves: Districts as Policy Mediators in the Flow of School Gentrification, by Terrance L. Green, Chloe Latham-Sikes, Jeremy Horne, Andrene Castro, Emily Germain, Educational Policy, March 31, 2022
The Policy Possibilities to Confront the Racial Impacts of Gentrification, Chloe Latham Sikes & Terrance L. Green, Poverty & Race • Vol. 30, No. 3 • October-December 2021
Republican bill that limits how race, slavery and history are taught in Texas schools becomes law, Brian Lopez, Texas Tribune, December 2, 2021
As COVID-19 Strains School Budgets, Texas’ Historic Education Cuts Give Lessons, by Laura Isensee, Houston Public Media, June 18, 2020
Data Deficit: No A-F Grades for Districts or STAAR Exams for Students, Emily Donaldson, Rivard Report, April 16, 2020
Teenager at Harris County juvenile detention tests positive for coronavirus, Gabrielle Banks, Houston Chronicle, March 26, 2020
Writings
- 70 years of Brown v. Board of Education – Reflecting on a New Generation of Civil Rights in Education, May 16, 2024
- Texas Censorship Law Leads to New Rubric for State-Approved Instructional Materials, February 12, 2024
- State Board of Education Punts Course Adoption Consideration for American Indian/Native Studies, February 12, 2024
- Texas’ Ban on College Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Offices Takes Effect, January 30, 2024
- What Texas’ New Book Banning Law Means for School Libraries and Student Books, September 28, 2023
- Texas’ New High-Quality Instructional Materials Law is Tangled in Classroom Censorship, September 26, 2023
- Texas Legislature Fails to Address the Needs of Texas Students and Teachers – More Censorship and Little Action on Teacher Shortage or Bilingual Education, July 31, 2023
- Texas Lawmakers Propose Laws to Support Black Students, History and Heritage, February 26, 2023
- Policy Roadmap for Texas Education – IDRA Policy Priorities for Texas Legislative Session, January 27, 2023
- NAEP Scores Reveal Ongoing Inequities and New Questions about Approaches to COVID-19 Learning Recovery, December 15, 2022
- Texas State Board of Education Votes to Keep Outdated Social Studies Standards and Delay New Ethnic Studies, September 08, 2022
- Challenges to Implementing Texas HB 4545 Tutoring Requirements for Accelerated Learning, September 02, 2022
- Update on Texas Education Policy Priorities – What to Watch and Where to Engage for Educational Equity, May 30, 2022
- A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing – The Attacks Against Equity through School Censorship and How Educators Can Still Teach the Truth, February 28, 2022
- Students Testify Against Classroom Censorship in Georgia, February 17, 2022
- How Texas’ Newest Censorship Bill Applies to School Activities, February 03, 2022
- Equitable Education Policies in the U.S. South Can Push the Country Toward Education Justice, January 30, 2022
- Get Involved in Changes to the Texas Social Studies Standards, December 02, 2021
- Texas SB 3 Makes New Changes to Social Studies Learning Standards, September 17, 2021
- What the Texas Classroom Censorship Bill Means for Schools, September 02, 2021
- The Case for Alternate Assessments and Community Oversight, April 30, 2021
- Five Things to Know about Texas School Finance, January 30, 2021
- IDRA’s Top Policy Priorities for the Texas Legislative Session, January 30, 2021
- Texas Must Scrutinize Potential Charter Schools Before Issuing Approvals for Growth, December 22, 2020
- Effective School Assessments and Accountability that Does Not Hurt Students, December 10, 2020
- Trump Administration, During a Pandemic, Moves to Privatize Education No Matter the Cost to Most Children, September 30, 2020
- State Reopening Guidance Must Prioritize Equity, June 26, 2020
- How School Districts and Communities Can Plan Safe Learning Environments, June 26, 2020
- State Takeovers of School Districts Don’t Work, May 27, 2020
- Implications of Texas SB 1882 Patchwork of Partnerships, May 27, 2020
- Meet Dr. Chloe Latham Sikes – IDRA Deputy Director of Policy, May 27, 2020
- Policy Recommendations to Equity Concerns for English Learners in Response to COVID-19, April 09, 2020
- Racial and Gender Disparities in Dress Code Discipline Point to Need for New Approaches in Schools, February 26, 2020
- Teacher Preparation for Diverse Classrooms, January 30, 2020
Podcasts
